That Fateful Day
by Geheimnisbewahrer
Summary: She couldn't precisely pinpoint when their relationship had changed. It was sort of slow, then everything just fell into place, at least where her feelings were concerned. She only knew that the horrible, heart-wrenching event in 5th Year was the start of the biggest adventure of her life: falling in love with James Potter. [Lily E., James P.]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **This is my first ever fanfiction, but I have written original pieces of work so it is not my first time writing. I have read multiple "how Lily and James finally got together" fanfics and they were great but not quite what I had in mind, and this idea has been kicking around in my head for a really long time, so I figured I would throw it out here in case anyone felt like joining me for the journey. As a side note, it is my intent to remain as canon as possible, but forgive me for the lapse in who Lily's female friends were; J. K. unfortunately has not released any information regarding them so I used people who _could_ have been in school with her, but weren't necessarily, rather than making up entirely new people who never existed at all in the HP universe. Also, I wrote this on my iPad, so if there are still any typos that I missed after the three proofreads I gave it, please just let me know! I hope you enjoy!**  
**

**Chapter 1**

Lily Evans stormed through the castle, making it to the seventh floor and Gryffindor Tower in record time. Angry tears rolls down her cheeks as she nearly flew up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. She knew one thing for certain: when the mad left, hurt was going to pummel her.

With that in mind, she was extremely glad to find her dorm-mates and friends Marlene McKinnon and Emmeline Vance reclining on their beds. Marlene jerked up from her relaxed sprawl as she took in Lily's expression.

"What happened this time?" Emmeline said after she glanced at Lily as she twirled a lock of straight brown hair around a finger. She was far too used to Lily being in tears, whether because Snape was being, well, himself, or because the Marauders were being prats again. Emmeline was still too stuck in her daydream to notice the difference between all those other times and now.

"It's-" Lily began then choked on a sob. "He-" she tried again but failed, putting a hand over her mouth to try to stifle the cries and wrapping her other hand around her middle as though she was trying to hold herself together.

Marlene, whose bed was nearest the door anyways, grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled her onto the bed. Marlene leaned back against her headboard with the redhead clinging to her, finally breaking down into heaving sobs as the heartache overtook the blinding anger that had been keeping her moving.

"Shh...shh..." Marlene kept repeating.

Emmeline finally fully refocused from her daydreaming enough to realize that this was worse, that this was something new and bigger. She immediately rushed to the blonde's bed to help comfort the distraught Lily.

"What's wrong, Lovely?" Emmeline asked again, more sincerely, once Lily's sobs had quieted down somewhat.

"I didn't think he could ever hurt me like this," Lily finally answered in a hoarse voice.

"Potter?" Marlene asked, confused. None of Lily's friends actually used James' name in her company unless they wanted a lecture about how immature the 'arrogant toe-rag' was and how they shouldn't speak to him or Sirius Black, let alone be friends with either of them.

When Lily shook her head, both the other girls sighed. Lily's fights with Severus Snape had been happening more and more frequently for the past year and a half. Neither the blonde nor the brunette could understand the redhead's continued friendship with the darkarts-obsessed Slytherin anyways, so it kept getting harder to console Lily when she fought with him.

Emmeline ran a hand soothingly up and down Lily's back as she said, "Don't worry, Snape will come around. He always does, right?" And it was true, he always did come crawling back, begging forgiveness.

Lily shook her head vehemently.

"No, I don't want him to. Not this time," Lily said with conviction.

Her friends' eyes widened at her declaration. This was turning into a day full of new occurrences.

"Wait, Lily, now you're going to have to explain," Marlene said. "I thought you said you and Severus were always going to be best mates. That's what you told us over and over, at least."

"I never thought he'd actually sink so low," Lily answered quietly. She took a deep breath before telling them what had happened.

"...And so I just wanted to help my _friend_, is all. The group of them are arrogant berks, and Sev had lost his wand, and so I tell off those two stupid Marauders, and what do I get in return? He-" She had to pause before she continued. It still hurt, but the mad was coming back, pushing her to tell it all. "He called me a...Mudblood." She spat the last word out.

Emmeline's jaw dropped open, not shocked that he used the term, since she had heard him use it plenty, but very shocked that he called _Lily_ one. In Emmeline's eyes, it was easy to see that Snape _loved_ Lily.

Marlene, however, got to her feet so quickly she tumbled Lily right to floor. Lily glared at her best female friend as she rubbed her bum and gingerly stood back up.

"He did WHAT!?" Marlene yelled angrily, snatching up her wand, which was laying on her nightstand. The blonde almost had as bad a temper as Lily. "I'm going to _kill_ him!"

Marlene started marching to the door, but Lily's hand on her arm halted her.

"Please don't," Lily begged her friend. "I just want to move on." She rubbed at her itchy, red eyes. She knew she looked like a mess: eyes red and puffy, hair a tangled mess, skin blotchy. She did not cry prettily. "I just want to stay here, eat some chocolate, and relax. You with me?"

Marlene sighed but sat back down on her bed next to Emmeline. The two looked at each other and nodded. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Marlene waved her wand, summoning some of her and Lily's not-so-secret stash of chocolate from their trunks. Emmeline, not having her wand on her, just walked over to her trunk and pulled out some of her stash from the bottom of it.

* * *

Two hours later saw Lily feeling much more optimistic about the whole situation. If Severus was going to call other muggleborns Mudblood, then there was really no point in him treating her any differently from then on. He just couldn't see what was wrong with the Death Eater mentality, no matter how many times Lily had tried to explain how horrible they were. She was still angry and hurt, but she was working on reaching the point where she was okay with not being friends with her first wizard friend anymore.

At least, that was her mentality until Mary McDonald, their other brunette dorm-mate, shoved the dormitory door open and slammed it closed again. The other three girls exchanged confused glances. Mary was usually the most level-headed, even-tempered of the four girls.

"What happened with you then?" Emmeline asked from her spot on her own bed. She was wondering what else could possibly gone wrong this day. Lily was with Emmeline on her bed, while Marlene had gone back to sprawling on her own bed.

Mary huffed as she threw herself face-down on her bed. She mumbled something but none of the other girls could understand.

"Ah, I get it. It's all so clear now," Lily said sarcastically.

Mary turned her head and shoved her short, dark brown hair out of her face. She sighed again, dreading telling this to Lily, who finally looked mostly normal and not as though she'd been crying for an hour. Mary had witnessed what had happened down by the lake, and it wasn't like the whole school didn't know about what had happened already, but if Lily had gone to dinner puffy-faced and red-eyed it would not have ended well for her, mostly because of her damn pride. After all, you can only hear "I told you so" so many times before you snapped.

"He's waiting outside the portrait hole to try to talk to you," Mary finally told Lily, pulling herself into a sitting position as she did so.

Lily froze.

She couldn't take a breath and she was fairly certain her heart skipped at least one beat. Emmeline and Marlene gave Mary reproachful looks. After all, they had just gotten their friend back to a more-happy-than-sad place.

"You know what, Lovely?" Mary said, using the first half of the nickname Slughorn had given her: Lovely Lily. "I'll just go back out there and tell Snape to bugger off. Again."

Lily shook her head, jumping to her feet as she regained the living qualities of breathing and movement. "No, I need to talk to him. To tell him it's over."

"It's like you're breaking up with him," Marlene muttered.

Lily glared at her blonde friend. "I might as well be. I am _breaking_ the friendship, so it is _breaking up_, in a sense."

With that said, she checked to make sure her wand was still tucked into her school uniform skirt's waistline and then walked calmly out of the dormitory. Lily knew in general what Severus would want to say. He would try to apologize, say he didn't mean it, that she was his best friend, and it wouldn't happen again. And maybe it wouldn't this time, but Lily was thoroughly _sick_ of making excuses for Severus to her friends. This was just the last, worst straw on the proverbial camel's back.

As Lily reached the base of the staircase, she scanned the room to assure herself that the Marauders were not in the Common Room. The only decent one of the group was Remus, and then only when he wasn't in Potter's or Black's company. They tended to stay outside when the weather was nice enough though, preferring to sit under "their beach tree," as Sirius as dubbed it. Poor tree. This journey of Lily's through the Common Room was much better than her last. She still braced herself before pushing open the portrait and climbing through the hole.

"Lily! Thank Merlin! I knew you'd come out for me, no matter what that other girl said." Severus' onslaught on words began as soon as both her feet hit the floor of the corridor. His black hair fell in curtains around his face, framing his almost perfectly black eyes. His face, which had been drawn down with worry, was now lifted in a relieved smile.

Severus hurried towards Lily, reaching for her hand. The mask of relief he wore froze and then fell as Lily turned to keep her hand out of his reach. He finally took in her appearance, her expression. To anyone else, she would just look indifferent, but Severus had known her since they were nine. Her emerald green eyes, which usually glowed with her happy inner light, were still a little too watery and just the slightest bit bloodshot. She had cried recently, which he wasn't surprised about, but Lily's face had the barest hint of anger as well, and resignation. It was that last emotion that scared him the most.

"I'm sorry Lily. I really, truly am. You know I didn't mean to..." Severus trailed off when Lily put her hand up, palm towards him.

"You are always sorry, Severus," she began after a moment of silence. When she used his full name, it felt like a knife in his gut. "You always say you don't mean it, but you keep doing these things... Actions are more telling than words."

Severus took a step back, adding a physical distance to the emotional one Lily had already created for herself.

"I never meant to call you Mudblood, it just-"

"Slipped out?" Lily said coldly, cutting him off mid-sentence. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years." Lily felt tears building behind her eyes again. She could have sworn she was all out of them. This was just so _hard_. "None of my friends understand why I even talk to you. You and your precious little Death Eater friends..." She had to pause and take a breath before she broke down. She had to finish this, no matter how much the broken look on her ex-best friend's face was killing her. "You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."

Severus felt like he was stuck in his worst nightmare. Bt he refused to cry. Crying was weakness, and he refused to be weak.

"You know I would never hurt you, right?" Snape asked. When she nodded, he continued, "Then why do you think I would purposely call you _that_?"

There was a scuffle near the end of the hallway. Lily as hoping someone would turn down this corridor so she could finally end this painful conversation, but after a moment of the ex-friends watching the turn Snape turned back to face Lily, still waiting for her answer.

Lily just sighed and asked a question to which she unfortunately knew the answer. "Are you still planning to join Voldemort's-" Snape flinched at the name. "-Death Eater ranks after you leave Hogwarts?" He stayed silent and dropped his eyes, gazing at the floor. "That's what I thought. You just don't get what is wrong with them at all. Until you want nothing to do with them, we are through, Snape."

Severus' head snapped back up, his dark eyes wide and his mouth fallen slightly open in horror. He'd been lowered to the level of _Potter and Black_ in Lily's mind.

"But Lily..." He stopped himself.

She had on her most stubborn, determined look. Here teeth were clenched, chin jutting ever-so-slightly forward, her eyebrows drawn down in a line over her beautiful almond-shaped green eyes. Those eyes usually were open and warm to him, but not anymore.

And then Severus did the hardest, most painful thing he had ever had to do: he gave up Lily Evans. With his back to her and a wave of his hand as he walked away he said, "See you around, Evans."

He heard her mutter something, and it must have been the password because a moment later he heard her climb through the portrait hole. Snape refused to turn and watch her go. He had suffered through enough pain already that day.

"Nice screw up, Snivellus," came the familiar drawl of James Potter once Snape had reached the end of the corridor. James was casually leaning against the wall, arms and ankles crossed. "Really, it was brilliant." The arrogant prat had the gall to start clapping his hands together as sarcastically as clapping can get.

Severus lifted a lip at him in a sneer. "Potter," he practically spat the name out, automatically pulling his wand out. "This is entirely your fault!"

James, with his eternally messy black hair and hazel eyes, didn't bother getting out his wand. For once, he was alone, having opted against a trip to the kitchens with his mates.

"That's funny," James responded as he pushed himself off the wall, "because it sounded to me like it was inevitable. All that Death Eater business is pretty lethal for a friendship with a muggleborn."

James sauntered around Severus to access Gryffindor Tower when he was stopped by his nemesis speaking.

"If you hurt her Potter, I will kill you," Snape promised, ending with, "Keep her safe." And then he hurried away.

James watched him leave with a curious expression on his face. It wasn't like James was even friends with Lily to be able to hurt her like the other boy had, and he was fairly certain Lily would hurt _him_ if he tried protecting her in any way. He just shrugged it off for the time being and made his way through the portrait hole to wait in his favorite armchair by the fireplace for the rest of the Marauders to return.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you everyone who has read this so far. I hope you're enjoying the story, even though it's not that far in. I am attempting to stay as canon as possible, though I might mess some things up, on accident or on purpose, so I am sorry if that bothers anyone! Please let me know what you think about it. I really want to keep writing this, but there will be no point if no one is enjoying/reading it! Thanks again and enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter, I just have a love for a great story.

**Chapter 2**

James had been hoping to see Lily, but it figured she would be holing up in her dormitory, probably with the rest of the 5th year Gryffindor girls. James was still furious that her supposed best friend had called her such a horrible name. And he felt badly about his own treatment of her. At least he hadn't called her a terrible, derogatory name, but he had asked her out. Again. And he hadn't even asked her out in some romantic (in his mind) way this time. No, he had just been hexing her best friend, trying to wash his mouth out.

_Too bad it hadn't worked, like Mom always said it would on me_, James thought miserably. _Blackmail. I had to try and use blackmail?_

It was probably the cruelest method of asking her out and it all happened because he couldn't control his stupid mouth-or any other part of himself for that matter-when he was around her. It was no wonder she kept saying no. James just couldn't help it. Every time he was around Lily Evans, he inevitably did or said something stupid or cruel or humiliating, and sometimes it was a combination of the three.

"See Remus? I told you we shouldn't have left him on his own," James' best friend was saying loudly to their light-brown-haired, pale-green-eyed, werewolf friend. "Now he's moping and obsessing again!"

Remus sat in the armchair on James' left while Sirius threw himself into the one on James' right, with Peter on Sirius' other side.

"It doesn't much matter if we left home alone, Sirius," Remus replied to his black-haired, grey-eyed cohort as he sat. "He would've moped and obsessed if he was with us anyways, only then we would've had to listen."

"True," Sirius reluctantly agreed,still not liking leaving James alone when he was upset.

"So did you catch a glimpse of her?" Peter piped up after a moment of uncharacteristic silence, wondering if James had made another attempt at talking with Lily.

James' face split into a huge grin. Remus and Sirius shared a surprised glance before tentatively grinning in response. '_Could she have finally talked to James? Given him a start of a chance?_' was generally what they both were thinking.

"Oh, I saw her," James said. "Don't look so excited mates, she didn't see me. And don't go where I know you're mind's going, Padfoot. I just saw her talking with Snivellus. She ended their friendship! Called him Snape and everything!" Sirius was looking almost as excited as James. James almost laughed in his glee, but then he saw the stricken look on Remus' face. "What? What's wrong? This is a good thing! Without his influence on her, I might-"

Remus was shaking his head. "She'll never forgive you for this one, James," Remus said with a sigh.

"But, it's not my fault he called her a you-know-what!" James protested.

Sirius was looking just as indignant as James. "Yeah, we didn't make old Snivelly say anything! We were just having a bit of fun!" Peter was watching avidly, not having much input on the subject himself.

Remus sighed again. "Think of how this whole situation must look from Lily's perspective," he began explaining.

James and Sirius shared a look and a shrug, both at a loss. Remus had been spending time with her all year on patrols and in Prefect meetings, so he knew her best of the four of them.

"The way she will _probably_ see it, is that if you two hadn't been tormenting her best friend, she wouldn't have had to try to help him," Remus explained slowly. "If she hadn't tried to help him, he wouldn't have called her a you-know-what. She'll never forgive you for helping her lose her first wizard friend."

"I know he was her first friend here and all, Remus," Sirius began to ask, still confused, "but what does it matter now? She's got other friends here. Loads of them. And everyone knows Snape's going dark, so why would she _want_ to stay friends with him?" James and Peter nodded in agreement with Sirius' questions. It just didn't make sense to them.

Remus sighed again. He knew he wasn't supposed to tell anyone this, even though Lily never specifically forbade him from doing so. "She mentioned once that he was her only friend when she goes home on holidays," Remus said, holding up a hand to stop James from talking. "Before you say anything, I don't know much. Just that they live close to each other and that Lily doesn't get along with her sister. I think she might have known Snape even before she got here."

James almost pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. He was sort of jealous that one of his best mates knew more about Lily's life than he did.

"Why was she even talking to you about all that?" James asked, desperate to know how Remus got her to talk to him.

"Well I don't ask her out constantly, for one," Remus said dryly before becoming serious again. "I honestly think she was just upset about something back home and I happened to be there at the time, as we were on patrol. I think she forgot I was friends with you, quite frankly. She shut up pretty quickly about the subject and never brought it up again, at least."

The four friends fell into uncharacteristic silence for a short while. James was brooding over what Remus had told him, especially about Lily never forgiving him. At least he was brooding, until Sirius tackled him out of his his chair. James lay sprawled on the floor, stunned for a moment at the sudden attack. Then he started shoving Sirius off him, half laughing, half groaning. Remus and Peter were clutching their sides from laughing so hard.

Once James successfully made it to his feet and put some distance between himself and his best friend, he glared at said best friend and shouted, "What the bloody hell was that for?"

Sirius shrugged nonchalantly and smirked mischievously at James. "I was bored and you were brooding again."

James paused, then belted out laughter, his head falling back and wrapping his arms around his belly. His hazel eyes were bright with happiness again, which was Sirius' goal in the first place. No one could cheer James Potter up like Sirius Black.

* * *

Up in the girls' dormitory, Lily was finished recounting her most recent encounter with Snape, and they were all chatting about whatever came to their minds. The girls cut off their conversation when they heard a great commotion down in the common room. The others laughed, but Lily just rolled her eyes.

"Apparently the Marauders are back..." she said in annoyance.

"Oh come on, Lils," Marlene argued, "they aren't all bad! You have to admit, some of the stunts they pull are pretty funny."

Lily sighed dramatically. "You're right, Marlene," she said, surprising the three other girls in the room, "they are not completely bad. I like Remus well enough on his own. It's just the other three quarters of the Marauders I don't care for." All three of her friends dropped their heads in disappointment. "Though I must say, they do pull off a lot of really difficult magic. I just want to know how they get away with all the pranks."

Emmeline giggled. "Only _you_ are more interested in those boys' magic than you are in _them_, Lovely. Honestly, James, Sirius, and Remus are positively _swoon-worthy_!"

Lily leaned back on her pillow and rolled her eyes as Marlene and Mary agreed enthusiastically with Emmeline's statement, debating over who was the most attractive. Sure, they were handsome, but their behavior was so appalling (mostly-barring Remus) that it more than balanced out their physical attributes. It was unfortunate, but true. Lily would much rather date someone plain-looking and nice than an attractive jerk.

"Lily?" Mary's voice saying her name cut through the haze of her thoughts. Lily tossed her a questioning glance.

"I think she missed the question, Mary," Emmeline said while laughing.

"What's up?" Lily asked curiously as she sat back up.

Mary grinned. "So you say you'd never date Potter, even if it was a choice between him and the giant squid, because he's an arrogant, bullying toerag, right?" Lily cautiously nodded. "Imagine this hypothetical world where Potter actually grows up and can behave like a civilized person and not hex people for the fun of it." Lily raised her eyebrows in disbelief. _Like that would ever happen_, she thought. "Would you change your mind and try going out with him at least once?" Mary finally asked, getting to her point.

Lily snorted, but actually thought about her answer. "I suppose I would," she said, getting cheers from Marlene and Mary. "But it's not like that's ever going to happen," Lily protested over their whoops, "because James Potter is a jerk, and no one can change so much about their character."

"That's not fair, Lils," Marlene objected quietly, sobering up her merriment. "I've known James since we were kids, and it's true he's always been a prankster, but I seriously think Snape brings out the worst in him. You know he's the worst around Snape."

Lily shrugged and let it drop. She didn't have the energy for an argument. She still had to make it through dinner and a patrol before she could do some last minute Transfiguration review before the exams the next day. Speaking of dinner, she was starting to get hungry, even considering all the chocolate she, Marlene, and Emmeline had consumed. Someone was on the same page as Lily, because her stomach chose that moment to growl. Loudly.

Lily chuckled along with everyone else.

"I think it's time we re-entered Hogwarts life and went down for dinner," Lily said as she hopped off her bed, stretching as she stood. She grabbed her bag as she walked to the door. "I know I'm ready for some dinner, at least."

Marlene immediately stood to follow her best friend. Marlene was slightly taller than Lily, and had a more athletic build thanks to years of playing Quidditch. Her wavy blonde hair just reached the bottom of her shoulder blades and framed a rather angular face with bright blue eyes that were almost always shining with amusement.

The two brunettes soon followed suit as well. Emmeline's hair was a softer brown than that of Mary's, and Emmeline's eyes were a blue that was a few shades darker than Marlene's. Mary's shoulder-length hair was a pretty chestnut brown and her eyes almost matched it. Emmeline was the tallest of the four girls, with a willowy frame that made her look graceful whether she was walking or sitting still. Mary was around Lily's height, making them both the shortest of the group, even though they were an average height for girls.

"Lovely, what's with the school supplies?" Marlene asked as they filed down the staircase.

Lily gave Marlene a look, the one that said her friend should know better. "We still have Transfiguration, or have you forgotten already? I am going to the library after dinner until Remus and I have patrol at nine."

The other three girls rolled their eyes.

"Do you even still _need_ to study, Lily?" Mary asked as they reached the bottom of the stairwell to the Common Room. Lily was probably the most prepared for the OWLs of everyone in their year, except maybe some Ravenclaws.

"Don't you three need to study more?" Lily retorted. "I don't think there's such thing as being too prepared for the OWLs. They determine our futures."

Their conversation was interrupted by a bark of laughter. Lily narrowed her eyes at the handsome boy with black hair and grey eyes, daring Sirius to say whatever it was he found so funny about her statement.

"She sounded just like you, Remus!" Sirius said, laughing again. "You two are like a match made in heaven. Maybe she'd even actually say yes to you!"

James punched his best friend in the shoulder, silently protesting against his statements. Remus just rolled his eyes, far too used to Sirius' antics to be bothered by them.

Lily completely ignored Sirius, sort of glad he had distracted James from asking her out _again_, and instead said to Remus, "Meet me in the corridor outside the library at ten till nine?"

"See!" Sirius said to James at the same time as Remus said, "Sure. Will you be studying before patrol then?" At Lily's nod he asked, "Can I join you? I'll get nothing done in my dorm."

Lily nodded again before continuing on the way to dinner, not particularly wanting to talk to any of them, even Remus, at the moment. She didn't understand how Remus could just sit by while his friends bullied someone, even if it was someone he hated. Remus was a Prefect, after all. Lily figured he didn't want to tell them off for fear of driving away his best friends, and given his condition she sort of understood. Just because they were so understanding and supportive of their werewolf friend didn't mean everyone would be. In fact, most would abhor him for his situation, even though he has no control over it.

Lily herself had been shocked when she first figured it out in the beginning of the year. Remus missing only the patrols around full moons was hard to ignore, especially when the headmaster himself altered every patrol schedule so that Remus wouldn't be missed by the others. In Lily's mind, Remus was just another person with another illness that no one knows a cure for. She liked to think that even if she had been raised in the wizarding world and told from a young age that werewolves were bad that she would hold to the same values, but that was impossible to know.

"Earth to Lily!" Marlene practically shouted in her face.

Lily blinked rapidly and leaned away from her friend. She blushed when she realized that she had checked out of their conversation for the entire walk through the castle.

"Sorry guys," she said, "I guess I'm still a little out of it." She wrinkled her nose at herself. She didn't like that her focus was thrown so badly. It's not like falling out with Severus had been a complete shock; the method, sure, but not the actual falling out. And she desperately needed her focus for the last exam. Transfiguration wasn't her worst subject, but it certainly wasn't her best.

"It's fine, you just missed all the gory details of summer plans," Mary informed her. "I'm travelling to France with my family. Marlene is going to all kinds of Quidditch things. Emmeline is visiting family...where was it again Emmy?"

"Poland," she answered shortly, looking to Lily to hear what she was doing all summer.

Lily raised her eyebrows and shrugged. "Avoid Snape and Petunia?" she said, not sure what else she would be doing. Apparently her friends were all busy, and Snape would hopefully stay away from her, and since her parents would be at work most times, that left Lily mostly on her own.

"Sorry, Lils, I wish there was something I could do to help," Mary said compassionately, placing a hand on Lily's shoulder and squeezing lightly. They were now making their way through the Great Hall, past all the other House tables to sit at the end of Gryffindor's table. The food was already out, as the girls had arrived late to dinner.

"Oh, I know!" Marlene said suddenly. "You can come with me to some of the Quidditch matches!"

Lily frowned at Marlene, saying, "And how would I get there? I'm not of age until January and my family are Muggles, so our fireplace isn't hooked in to the Floo Network."

"My parents can come get you?" Marlene tentatively offered.

Lily chuckled. "Maybe you should check in with them before you go and obligate them to do anything."

Marlene fake-pouted. "Well fine then, I will do just that. As soon as I get back to the dorm after dinner," she said. After all, she was really hungry. "And they'll say it's fine, you know. They love you."

"As long as it's okay with them, I would be happy to tag along," Lily said. Then she grinned. "It would be nice to see you over break. Letters are great, but actually hanging out is so much better!"

The four lapsed into silence as they piled their plates with food. Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline broke back out in conversation after taking their first few bites. However, Lily was trying to eat as fast as possible so that she could take off for the library and get in as much studying before patrol as possible. As she was getting close to finishing her meal, she started looking around for Remus, expecting to walk together for the study session.

He was no where to be found.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen or-more precisely-_heard_ the Marauders come into the Hall.

"Did any of you hear if the Marauders said they would be down for dinner?" Lily asked the others. They all shrugged and shook their heads. Lily frowned. "Well I'm not going to wait around for Remus to show up, so whenever they get here, let him know I already left, will you?"

"Sure thing, Lovely," Emmeline replied for them all.

"Alright then, I'll be back in the dorm around ten-thirty or so," Lily said as she stood and gathered her things. Giving them all a wave goodbye, she rushed out of the Great Hall.

* * *

Remus and Lily had studied together pretty frequently throughout the school year, since their schedules were fairly similar and they were the most studious in their respective groups. They even had a specific table near the back of the library that they always sat at, always oriented in the same positions. They wouldn't talk much, unless it was to clarify an answer they were working on. So Lily was expecting Remus to find her there after she was already set up.

Suffice it to say she was surprised to run into him at the entrance to the library. It was like he knew she would be there, but he had clearly come from a corridor that would take him back to Gryffindor Tower.

"How did you know I was coming here now?" Lily asked.

Remus smirked and said, "I had to know you were coming here?" Lily blushed, realizing he was probably just heading down to start studying, regardless of whether she would be there or not.

"Right. So you aren't eating then?" she said as they wound their way back to their table.

"I did eat. Before we went back to the Common Room," he answered.

"Ah," was all Lily said in reply. She let the conversation drop. She was still extremely disappointed in Remus for his earlier inaction.

"I'm sorry about what Sirius said before, in the Tower," Remus said awkwardly, misinterpreting her shortness with him.

Lily raised her eyebrows, giving Remus an odd look. "You really think that bothered me? It's possibly the least obnoxious thing Black has ever said to me."

Remus fell silent, contemplating. Usually he had a pretty good gauge of people's temperaments, though Lily went out of her way to be difficult to read around him and his friends. Still, he was pretty sure that she was not entirely happy with him, but he wasn't sure why. He decided to put it on a back burner, at least for the time being, and focused on his studying. Remus was very proficient in Transfiguration, but he wanted to go over the theory of different parts of the subject. And he knew it was not Lily's best subject, so he figured he could help answer any questions she might have, if he knew the answer. They fell into their familiar, comfortable study pattern, and Lily felt much more secure in her knowledge by the time nine o'clock rolled around.

Lily hurriedly shoved all her things in her bag, not wanting to be late to start patrolling their specified area. It wasn't as though they would get in trouble for starting at the library and making their way to the 2nd floor, but Lily preferred to do things by the book whenever possible, unless "by the book" made no sense what-so-ever. Lily and Remus stretched as they stood.

"Shall we?" Remus said. Lily nodded, but stuck to her silence. She didn't particularly want to speak with the lanky, brown-haired boy still. Remus let the silence sit all the way through the first twenty minutes of their patrol, but by then he was thoroughly annoyed.

"Alright, Lily, tell me what's wrong," he finally demanded.

"Nothing," she said in surprise at the venom behind his words.

He scoffed. "I thought we were better friends than that. I can tell you're upset. And not just about not being friends with Severus, either." He added when Lily opened her mouth to respond. She shut her mouth but gave him a questioning glance. "You tend to give the silent treatment to anyone you're annoyed with. Except James. You just yell at him and storm off."

One side of Lily's mouth twisted down in a half frown. "When did you get to be such an expert on my mannerisms?"

"I told you, I thought we were better friends than that," Remus answered honestly.

Lily sighed, giving him a carefully guarded look. She debated what to tell him, how much to say. Then she decided, if he thought they were good friends, she had might as well be completely honest with him.

"You never stop them from bullying anyone," she said, and held up a hand when he went to reply. "Just let me say this. I know they are your friends, and you guys have some crazy bond that makes you more like brothers, but it does _not_ mean that it is acceptable for you to turn a not-so-blind eye on their more cruel activities. Honestly, the pranks are usually fine and all in good fun, but hexing random people because they have nothing better to do? It's childish and it's bullying, no matter what you say to defend them."

"I won't defend them," Remus began quickly. "I know I should stop them, but they do so much for me, you really have no idea. It makes it hard to tell them off about anything."

"Remus, I know," Lily said.

"Know what?" he asked, lost. "How much they do for me?"

"Sort of, I guess. If you call staying friends with you given your condition doing something for you," Lily answered, and almost enjoyed the shocked look pass over Remus' face before he hid it. "If so, you have incredibly low standards."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Remus said slowly, not daring to say anything about his lycanthropy in case that _wasn't_ what she was referencing.

"Remus, you're gone every full moon and look miserable for days afterwards," Lily said dryly. "I am neither an idiot nor blind. You're a were-" Remus threw a hand over her mouth to stop her from finishing her sentence. Lily pulled his hand off her face and glared at him indignantly. "Excuse me?"

"You never know who is lurking around with open ears in this place," he answered her. "You haven't told anyone, I'm sure, otherwise it would be all over school. So why haven't you said anything before now? And when did you find out?"

Lily shrugged. "It never came up before. You're still the same person you were before I figured it out, which was at the beginning of this year, by the way. I probably would have figured it out sooner if I hadn't been actively avoiding Potter all these years, too," she mused.

Remus chuckled, but sobered up fairly quickly. "That brings me back to the topic on hand. I'm sorry I never stop them. They're my mates, and they would do anything for me, so I return the favor and turn a blind, regretful eye on their less-than-stellar actions."

Lily turned her gaze back to their surroundings. It was a quiet night, and would probably remain so. To be honest, most patrols were uneventful.

"It's alright, I guess," Lily finally responded. She heard Remus let out a big sigh, she assumed in relief. "Like I said, I sort of got it in the first place, I just wish it were different."

They let a more comfortable silence fall between them for a few minutes.

"Lily?"

"Yes Remus?"

"Thank you."

"What are friends for?"

And that was when Lily Evans first realized she considered one of the infamous Marauders a friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Thank you to those who reviewed/followed! I appreciate it a lot! Sorry for skipping a week in updating, but I was having a blast white water rafting on my days off from work, so there went all my free time to write. As always, let me know if there are typos I missed when I edited, and let me know any other thoughts on the chapter. Enjoy!

**Author's Note 2:** So I had to come back and edit this chapter because I realized a discrepancy between the classes Emmeline said she dropped this chapter and the ones she is taking in the next...Sorry, if you even noticed!

**Disclaimer:** Unfortunately I am not J. K. Rowling. If I were, I would have already published a book on the Marauder era, because they are awesome.

**Chapter 3**

Lily was laying on her bed at home, listening for the door to open and close, and for the car to pull out of the drive, before she could safely emerge from her bedroom. Her fights with Petunia had gotten worse. And by "fights", she meant Petunia blatantly ignoring Lily's presence whenever they were in the same room, and the increase in volume of calling Lily a freak, without actually saying it to Lily's face, of course. Petunia was getting very good at pretending Lily didn't exist. It frustrated Lily, but mostly it made her sad. She missed her sister. And the way her sister was now made Lily miss her friends from school all the more. The only company from the Magical world she had was her tawny owl, whom she had named Athena back when Lily was twelve.

It was a relief that school was starting up again in just two weeks. Lily had made plans for school shopping with Marlene, Emmeline, and Mary to meet up in Diagon Alley later that day. She had gone to several Quidditch matches with Marlene over the summer, and she had surprisingly had a lot of fun. Lily had only gotten into Quidditch recently, having taken a dislike to it on principle in 1st Year since James Potter was obsessed with it; she decided in the last year that she was not going to let Potter rule her life, though, and came to the conclusion that Quidditch was better than any Muggle sport.

Unfortunately, Emmeline's and Mary's travels kept them away for the entirety of the summer, so Marlene was the only friend she had seen all of summer break. The other two did have a lot of interesting things to tell Lily in the novel-like letters they sent, though. Lily couldn't wait until she was of age and out of Hogwarts to be able to travel like they had. There were so many places she wanted to see, both Magical and Muggle, but for now she would have to live the dream through her friends' experiences.

On the up side of Lily's vacation, she had not seen Snape more than half a dozen times, so there was minimal awkwardness on that front. The first two times, he had been trying to see her, seeking her out at the old playground, she assumed because he thought since they were out of school it would change things. Since those two times in the early days of summer, he had gotten the point and left her alone, so when they ran into each other later it was only in passing. That was only one of the two major changes in her summer routine. The other change was receiving letters from Remus Lupin. He was really taking his role as her friend seriously. She got at least one letter a week from him.

It was...odd, being friends with a Marauder, Lily had decided. Even if he was the most even-tempered and least annoying of the group. It meant that when she wanted to talk to him, or vice-versa, they also had to be around each others' friends. It was more exposure to Sirius Black and James Potter than Lily was willing to put herself through at the end of 5th Year. Still, Remus insisted on sending her a letter, and they were usually entertaining. Lily even found herself _wanting_ to write back, and so she did. She was learning a lot about Lupin that she hadn't known before. Like the fact that he still lived at home with his parents, but spent nearly all his days at Potter Manor, preferring to be with James and Sirius than home alone. And that he secretly rearranged some of James' things every day, so that whenever James went to grab something, it always took him twice as long. Lily found great pleasure in knowing that Remus was pranking Potter, even in such a subtle way.

She also learned of Sirius moving in with James through Remus, though he wouldn't say much about it. Lily knew Sirius was not close with his family. Everyone at Hogwarts did. Sirius was the only Black to be such a "disgrace" as to be sorted anywhere but Slytherin. Lily might not be the biggest fan of Sirius, but even she knew he was a hundred times better than the rest of his Pureblood-supremacy obsessed family. She was even glad that Sirius had James and his family to turn to, regardless of the fact that the pair of them together drove her crazy.

Lily's contemplation was interrupted by the front door slamming.

_Finally_, Lily thought as the car started up. She jumped up off her bed, grabbed her wand and her list of needed supplies, and ran downstairs. Her house was not particularly large. Just a two story with three bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. But it was home, and the family of four didn't need any more space than they had. Lily went to the kitchen and pulled a can of soda out of the fridge, happy to spend some time _out _of her room for a little while. She still had a half hour until she was being picked up for the shopping trip.

Lily sat, sipping her soda and tapping her fingers on the tabletop, when suddenly an idea popped into her head. She jumped to her feet and ran upstairs, grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill with ink. She jotted a note and rolled it up to give to Athena, who eagerly took flight as soon as Lily opened her bedroom window. She watched as her owl disappeared into the distance and hoped the letter would get to where it needed to in time.

* * *

"Now James, what did we agree was best for this outing?" Remus said to his messy-haired, glasses-wearing friend.

James raised his right hand, as if pledging an oath.

"I shall not ask out Lily Evans," he said dutifully.

"Unless she seems like she wants you to…" Sirius muttered, causing James to chuckle.

Remus rolled his eyes. He had been hanging out at the Potter mansion when Lily's owl had showed up, letting him know that she and the other Gryffindor girls were going to be in Diagon Alley that day. He was surprised, pleasantly so, that she had thought to invite him along. It proved that he had actually made headway in truly gaining her friendship. Suffice to say, James had jumped right on board with going to Diagon Alley for school shopping, as long as it meant he could see Lily before summer break was over. Remus was impressed he had actually convinced James that if he stopped asking her out all the time, Lily might actually go out with James. Not that Remus _really_ believed that, but maybe the girls and boys of their year in their House could all hang out sometimes if Lily wasn't constantly angry with and/or running away from James.

"You know she won't actually want you to ask her out today, right?" Remus said nervously, hoping James would listen to him over Sirius for once. They were hanging out in the Alley, waiting to meet up with Lily, Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline outside of Flourish and Blotts. "She was only expecting me, not her two least favorite people at Hogwarts."

Sirius scoffed. "Like Miss Smarty-pants wouldn't realize the risk of inviting you and getting us too."

James nodded in agreement. "That is true. Maybe she was subconsciously trying to meet me here through you!" Remus narrowed his eyes at James, giving him an annoyed look. "Or maybe she just wanted to see her friend Remus," James muttered. "You're such a spoilsport, Moony. I'm just joking around. And if I start losing my head around Evans, just hit me upside the head or hex me or something."

"Oh, can I be in charge of that?" Sirius said eagerly, earning himself a scowl from James. Sirius just grinned. "I always know when you're about to do or say something really stupid."

"He does have a point there, Prongs," Remus agreed. "I therefore pass along my duty to Padfoot. Other than the hexing part. We aren't of age yet, you know. I'd rather not have the ministry angry with me for using magic outside of school."

Sirius scoffed at that, as if he didn't believe in such petty things as age restrictions on using magic, but he left his objection at that. He wasn't _actually_ willing to pay the price for deliberately using magic outside of school.

Remus could tell the instant James spotted Lily. His hand jumped up to his hair, running backwards through it to make it even messier that it always was. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Wait here, mates," Remus said as he turned and made his way through the crowd in the direction James was looking. It didn't take Remus very long to spot Lily's dark red hair either. It kind of stood out. "Oi! Lily!" he called once he was close enough for her to hear him.

Lily smiled when she saw him. Remus took that as a good sign. He also saw the looks of surprise on her friends' faces, so she mustn't have told them about writing him. She turned and said something to them, probably explaining now, and then hurried over to say hi.

"How are you, Remus?" Lily asked, surprising him by giving him a quick, one-armed hug. "I was hoping my letter would reach you in time."

"Yeah, it did. And I'm well enough, thank you for asking," Remus responded with a smile. "I hope your vacation is going well since I last heard from you."

Lily shrugged and grimaced. "Petunia is still Petunia, and she is still dating the whale Vernon. But on a more positive note, she spends a lot of time with him, and _away_ from home, so I don't have to deal with her."

"That's good to hear," Remus said. Then he got nervous. He had to tell her about James and Sirius before she either spotted them or they made their presence known. He took a deep breath and let it all out in a rush. "So I was sort of at James' place when your owl showed up, and he and Sirius decided to tag along, and I hope you aren't angry with me, and I told James he better not ask you out today or I'd never talk to him again."

Lily just blinked. Then she started laughing. "Wow, Remus, I don't think I have ever heard you talk that fast _ever_," she said after she could breathe again. "I kind of figured you would be with the dolts, since you said you spend a lot of your time there. And I'm impressed. You actually got the toe-rag to agree to not ask me out for a day? The apocalypse must be coming…"

"Did I hear that right?" Mary asked, incredulous, as she and the other two made their way over to Remus and Lily, barging into the conversation. "James Potter is not going to ask out Lily Evans?" The short-haired brunette widened her chocolate-brown eyes in shock, sharing in her surprise with the blonde Marlene and her fellow brunette Emmeline.

"Believe it, ladies, James Potter has been tamed," Sirius Black announced as he sauntered over to the group. "Hey look, it's like it's a Gryffindor gathering." He made the statement like he had just realized that this is what would happen.

James wandered over behind Sirius, and Remus could tell he was desperately trying to keep his cool. His hand kept twitching, as though he was trying to control the urge to ruffle his hair, which he most likely was doing.

"Marlene, Mary, Emmeline," James said in greeting, ending with, "Evans." He looked to each and gave each a nod as he said their name. Marlene was the only one he had known for any length of time outside of Hogwarts, but Lily was the only one he didn't call by first name. He had copied the last-name-calling from her, when she refused to call him anything but 'Potter' way back in First Year.

The other three greeted him warmly enough, but Lily only managed a nod, and then continued to basically ignore his presence. Remus supposed it was the best that could happen in this little outing of theirs. _At least she wasn't yelling_, he thought.

"So Lily," Remus said, drawing her attention back to him, "how did you do on your OWLs?"

Lily smirked, completely happy with her results. "I passed them all, of course. After all the preparation I put into them, I would have been very put out if I hadn't."

Marlene rolled her eyes at her best friend. "C'mon, Lils, we all knew you'd pass them all. What were your actual scores?" So far, she had been unable to get Lily to divulge them, but now she was hoping peer pressure would make Lily give in.

"Yeah, Lovely, tell us what you got. We already told you!" Emmeline said.

Mary made an affirming noise, nodding her head.

"I'll tell mine if you tell yours, Evans!" Sirius interjected. "Did you get all Outstandings? I bet you did. You're such a know-it-all, how could you not? I mean-"

"Shut it, Sirius," James said, interrupting his best friend with a slap upside the head.

"Owww…" Sirius complained, smoothing out his tidy hair. "What was that for? And I thought I was the one with the slapping privileges here, not you!"

"Just because we said you could slap me upside the head doesn't mean I _can't _do that to you, idiot," James retorted, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

Lily shared a look with her friends, then looked at Remus, who had his face in one of his hands, while the two black-haired boys continued their argument. Lily sidled up next to him and asked in a whisper, "Is it always like this when you're with them?"

"Almost non-stop," Remus muttered back to her, still hiding his face.

"How do you put up with it? I think I'd go mad," Lily said.

"Remus finally looked up at her, giving her a tired look. "You have no idea," he said in a deadpan voice.

"SO, Lily," Sirius said loudly, causing her to jump a little. She hadn't been paying attention to the argument, so she hadn't realized the focus was about to shift back to her. "Tell me how you did!"

"Ugh, fine!" Lily relented, not wanting to put up with Black's pestering her the whole day. "I didn't get an Outstanding in Transfiguration and History of Magic, if you must know." She crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at Sirius and daring him to challenge her.

"So what did you get in them?" Mary asked, far too used to Lily's temper to be afraid of it anymore.

"Exceeds Expectations," she muttered, deflating somewhat in embarrassment. She was not all about rubbing her good grades in everyone else's faces.

"Would you look at that, Remes?" James said more than questioned. "She almost did as well as you did!" James turned to Lily as Remus blushed. "He got Outstanding in Transfiguration and History, but just missed on Herbology."

Lily nodded, impressed. Both with Remus' scores and with James speaking to her and not including a date proposal. "Congratulations, Remus, those are wonderful scores," was all she said, still mostly trying to ignore Potter. "Are you going to continue with all of the subjects then?"

James couldn't believe it. He had spoken to Lily Evans, the love of his life, and she hadn't yelled at him in response, or called him a name, or anything she usually did. She also didn't really acknowledge him, but not yelling and storming off was _definitely_ a step in the right direction.

"I dropped History, Arithmancy, and Astronomy," Lily was saying when James tuned back into the conversation. "History is dead boring, at least the way Binns teaches it, and I doubt I'll have a use for Arithmancy in my future, and I am so sick of the late-night classes for Astronomy."

"I dropped History as well," Emmeline told the group, mostly for James, Sirius, and Remus' benefits, since the girls were all together when signing up for their classes for Sixth Year. "Same as Mary and Marlene. I'm continuing Divination and Astronomy though."

Everyone made faces at her for saying she was keeping on with Divination, and Sirius snorted in an almost-laugh. He only stopped himself because Marlene nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. Most students found the subject to be a joke, especially with the war that was brewing. Who needed to learn to read palms and tea leaves when they might need to be fighting for their lives in the near future?

"Just because you lot don't have a more mystical side, does not mean I am going to conform to your beliefs," Emmeline said indignantly. She was very passionate about her Divination.

"We know, Emmy, we know," Mary said soothingly. To the rest of the group she said, "Shall we get a move on the shopping? I want to have a chance to get some ice cream before I have to go home, and I promised my parents I wouldn't be long. They get nervous these days, worried I won't come home whenever I go anywhere."

This sobered everyone up, and had them moving towards the bookstore. They all knew the war was gaining in intensity, but it was still hard to wrap their minds around it. So much of their time was spent sheltered in Hogwarts, and Lily was cut off from the Wizarding World (not including Severus) almost entirely over her summers, except for this one when she went to a few Quidditch matches with Marlene. They all knew, however, that they would have to make some serious decisions about their lives in the next two years regarding the war. Would they fight? Would they run? Some of them already knew - James, Sirius, Remus, Marlene - and the others hadn't given it as much thought yet, whether because they were in denial or some other reason.

They started by purchasing their required texts for the various classes they were all taking. For the most part, they realized they were still taking the majority of the same subjects and so would have almost the same schedules as each other. Buying books was easy: the store clerks knew what the Hogwarts students needed for each year and so they generally had them already set aside. Lily perused the shelves for a little while, trying to find something new that interested her. She decided on reading _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_, since she had always had a fondness for fairy tales and knew hardly any from the Wizarding World.

"Why in Merlin's name are you buying a children's book, Lily?" Sirius asked.

Lily looked at him in shock. She could hardly believe he actually used her first name. It wasn't that she minded, just that he never ever referred to her as anything but her surname.

"Did you just-?" Marlene started asking, tilting her head slightly to the side in question.

"I think he did," Mary said, also looking at Sirius strangely.

Emmeline narrowed her eyes at him, speculating, "I don't think he even realized it."

Sirius was looking between the four of them. "What?" he complained more than asked. He then turned to Remus and James. James was looking at him with his mouth slightly open and Remus was chuckling.

"You called her Lily, Sirius," Remus informed him, taking pity on Sirius.

Sirius clapped a hand over his mouth, his grey eyes wide. Then he looked at Remus in mock anger. "This is all your fault! You've been calling her Lily all summer, not Evans, and now I've picked up the habit from you!"

Lily giggled. Legitimately giggled, not laughed or chuckled. She couldn't help it. Sirius seemed genuinely upset about his slip-up, more so even than Lily herself was.

"It's fine, Black," she said, sticking to his surname mostly out of habit, and partially because she didn't think he could take her saying his first name. He was freaking out enough as it was. As for herself, she was mostly amused by the whole situation. If she was going to be friends with Remus, she had might as well get used to the other Marauders as well, including finally calling them by their first names. It would take a while for her to use Potter's, though, that she knew.

Sirius sighed in relief. "At least something is still normal," he muttered. "I'm getting out of this place. I think being around all these books is starting to corrupt me."

Lily snorted. "Corrupt you to do what, exactly? Actually pick one up for once and study?"

"That will most likely never happen, even if he managed to find the library," Remus told Lily, following her out of the bookstore once they made their purchases.

"Thank Merlin," Lily said. "Nothing would ever get done if he decided to set foot in there."

"Poor Lily wouldn't have anywhere to study or do homework anymore," Marlene said in mock sadness.

"That's it!" Mary said with a mischievous grin.

"What?" Lily asked warily. She did not like the looks on her friends' faces.

"We just have to send Sirius to the library whenever we want you to stop being a good student," Emmeline said matter-of-factly, knowing exactly where her friends' thoughts were headed.

Remus fell behind the group, falling into step with James, who was watching all this with an awestruck face.

"It's fine, James, breathe," Remus said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I just…" James trailed off.

Remus nodded, silently agreeing. He thought it was pretty miraculous that they were all together and everyone seemed to be having a good time, including Lily, who was currently laughing and rolling her eyes at her friends and Sirius.

"I never thought I would _actually_ get to hang out with her," James finally said.

"And now that you are, you aren't going to speak to her basically the whole time?" Remus asked, raising a brow.

James frowned at that, and then he shrugged. "I dunno, mate. She just ignored me last time I said something to her."

Remus shrugged in turn. "So what? She didn't yell or storm off. She is having a perfectly good time with Sirius right now. She will probably warm up to you when she realizes you won't be an arrogant prat around her anymore."

James smiled. "I guess you were right then," he admitted. "Lily can talk to me, as long as I'm not asking her out. I'll just have to keep with your plan of not asking her out, and learn how to talk to her without her ignoring me, and maybe she'll actually like me."

Remus nodded in agreement and said, "And you'll probably have to stop hexing random people for no good reason too." James gave him an incredulous, indignant look. "It's true and you know it, Prongs," Remus said. "She will never be your friend or do anything more than tolerate you unless you stop being a prat just because you feel like showing off some magic and using some poor sod as your guinea pig."

James turned his hazel eyes away from Remus, frowning. His shoulders drooped and his head dropped a little in shame. "Am I really that bad, Moony?" he asked.

Remus looked to the ground, still not so sure he should interfere with his friend's behavior, not so sure he should tell him off for it. Remus sighed and braced himself, turning his head to look at James once again. "Yes, James, I think you have been that bad. I think that when you get bored, you feel like you can do whatever you want, even if you feel badly about it later. I think you should never hex other people, only defend yourself against an attack. It's the mature thing to do, and sooner or later, you will either have to mature-maybe not entirely, but at least past hexing random people."

Silence followed his speech. They had fallen pretty far behind everyone else. Remus could see them turning into the Potions supply shop, Slug & Jiggers Apothecary. James stuffed his hands in his pocket, scuffing a foot against the cobblestone path.

"Alright then," he said after a moment. Remus thought he was going to leave it at that and rejoin the others, but James continued, "From now on, no more hexing people unless they attack me first. But I'm still going to pull pranks." He grinned, throwing an arm around Remus' shoulder. "What's life without a little mayhem?"

On the inside, Remus was sighing in relief. On the outside, he was laughing with his friend, indescribably happy that James was not angry with him. And who knows, maybe Remus had actually helped James in his quest of being friends with Lily. All he knew, was that Sixth Year was going to be a lot different than all the others, if James could manage to stick to his new vows.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Again, sorry for the late update, and thank you so much for reading! Send me a review if you want to let me know what you think! I know there was a lot of random in this chapter, but I felt it was necessary to include a chapter for the summer, but I didn't want it to drag, and I also wanted there to be and introduction into the reformed James and give a reason for his sudden behavior change in Sixth Year, as well as mention the fact that yes, they all know there is a war brewing, there just isn't much they can do about it right at the moment. So again, please let me know if you think it flowed nicely, and I hope to see you all again next chapter! It should be up in about a week!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** So I am back much earlier than anticipated. I got bored on my days off, so all you lovely people who have decided to follow/favorite my story (you guys are awesome, by the way) get an extra chapter this week! It's time for the start of Sixth Year!

**ALSO**: Thank you thank you thank you to those who have followed/favorited/reviewed so far! It literally makes me so happy to know people are enjoying this story with me! The more people review, the more inclined I am to keep going, because otherwise I will feel like you people aren't overly interested, so let me know what you think, even if it's constructive criticism!

**Disclaimer**: I still do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. I'm just a huge fan.

**Chapter 4**

The last two weeks of summer passed mostly without incident. Lily was thoroughly looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, particularly to be away from her sister, and especially after seeing her friends in Diagon Alley. Living with Petunia made it difficult to ignore the fact that her sister hated Lily and everything she was, but when Lily was at school, she could mostly forget, for a time. Lily already had everything packed that she would need; she had been completely packed even a week before her Diagon Alley excursion, and had simply placed all of her purchases at the top of her trunk.

"Lily-flower, are you nearly ready?" Alfred Evans called up the stairs.

Lily scanned her bedroom one last time, patted her back jeans pocket to make sure her wand was still there, and then began heaving her trunk out of her room.

"Coming daddy!" she yelled between yanks on her trunk.

She couldn't wait until she was of age and could levitate the dang trunk through her house. Or charm it so that it was light as a feather. Anything would be better than this. She was breathing heavily by the time she made it to the base of the stairs.

An arm reached over her shoulder and assisted her in lifting the trunk. Lily turned and grinned at her dad, a grey-streaked brown-haired man in his late forties, with pale blue eyes and smile lines around his mouth. Lily couldn't remember a time her father was ever truly unhappy; he was always laughing at something or other, and he tried to pass down that happiness to his daughters. Lily liked to believe she was like her father in that respect, though Potter had done his damnedest over the years to prove her wrong. Lily's mother, Mary Evans, was standing at the door, keys in hand and purse on her shoulder, had given Lily her pretty, dark red hair and almond-shaped green eyes. While her mother now wore her hair short, cut just at her shoulders, Lily's wavy locks fell to the middle of her back, though she was wearing it in a loose braid for the day.

"You didn't forget anything, did you dear?" her mother asked as she pulled the door open.

"I don't think so, mum," Lily said, holding one end of her trunk up while her dad grabbed the other and they maneuvered it out the front door and over to the car. "And if I did, I'll just send Athena with a note and you can have her bring it to me." Lily went back to shut the front door and heard the television going in the next room, and knew Petunia must be in there pretending Lily didn't exist still. Lily sighed and called out, "Goodbye Petunia!" She faintly heard a grunt in reply, and shrugged, figuring that was all she would get.

Mary frowned and looked towards the house as though she was going to yell at Lily's older sister.

"Don't bother, mum," Lily said quietly as she climbed into the back seat of the car. "It's fine, honestly. You can't make her be nice to me, and even if you could, I don't want you to. She made her decision a long time ago to cut me out of her life, and I am a big enough person to let her do it, no matter how much it hurts."

Alfred and Mary shared a look, but decided not to push their youngest daughter on the issue. They never approved of the way Petunia reacted to Lily being a witch, but Lily was right, in a sense: they could not change either of their daughters, even if they wished they would both get along like they did when they were little.

"Alrighty then," Alfred said as he sat behind the steering wheel. "Here we come, King's Cross. Let the Sixth Year begin."

It was a tradition by this point for her father to say something silly or cheesy about Lily returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

First it was to make her less nervous.

Then it was to comfort himself while letting his daughter go for another whole school year.

And now it was for Lily, to make his daughter happy.

And she laughed.

* * *

"Come _on_, it's almost time!"

"Lily, we have nearly a half hour until the train leaves," Marlene said in a flat tone of voice.

"And if we _wait_, we won't get a good compartment, or we'll have to share one with people we either don't like, or don't know," Lily said determinedly as she pushed her way through King's Cross and made her way casually through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾.

Marlene rolled her eyes, but followed the rushing Lily through the hidden barrier, and then kept her eyes trained on the redhead as her friend continued to push through the crowd of families saying their goodbyes on the Platform. Lily and Marlene had met up at the entrance to King's Cross. Both of their families had errands and meetings to get to, so they couldn't go all the way to the Platform with them.

"Marlene! Hi!" she heard someone call from somewhere in the crowd. Marlene craned her neck, trying to find the source of the voice. "Over here!" it said again, and then Mary was flung out from between the masses, nearly falling over, and letting out an "Oof".

Marlene laughed, helping Mary steady herself.

"How have you been the last two weeks?" Marlene asked as they both continued on their quest to reach the train.

"Bored," Mary stated. "Couldn't wait to be back here. England is so boring after my France adventures."

Marlene nodded in agreement. By the end of the summer, there were no more local Quidditch matches, and so she was stuck at home, counting down the days, and then hours, until going back to Hogwarts. Marlene saw Lily climb onto the train finally, and hoped there was a close compartment. It royally sucked carrying their luggage everywhere.

"Oh! I see Emmy up ahead!" Marlene said, pointing out the tall brunette for Mary. She called out to their friend, and then was ran into by someone. "Ouch!" Marlene said angrily, rubbing the sore spot the person just created on her lower back. "What where you're going!" she whipped around and yelled, then narrowed her eyes. "Black. Of course it was you."

"Hey, it was _not_ my fault this time!" Sirius claimed, palms up and facing Marlene in a supplicating gesture. "Tell her Prongs!" he said, nudging said person in the ribs.

James smiled guiltily, his hand immediately going to his hair to muss it up. "It was actually my fault," James said in apology to Marlene. "I sorta wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Yeah, you were too busy watching Evans get on the train, mate," Peter said from behind James. The little round-faced boy peered around his friends to wave hello to three of the four girls in their year and House. "How's it going everyone?"

"Oh, hi, Pete," Emmeline said as she joined the group. "I didn't see you over here. Hello James, Sirius."

Peter just shrugged good-naturedly.

"Way to throw me under the bus, Wormtail," James said with a frown.

Marlene raised her eyebrows at her longtime friend. "Seriously, James? You think as soon as you said you weren't paying attention I wouldn't know exactly what you _were _paying attention to?" This earned sniggers from the rest of the group.

"Hey, where's Remus guys?" Mary suddenly asked as she continued towards the train.

"He'll be along," James answered her, following suit and trudging towards the train. It was difficult walking in a group through the crowd with everyone having trunks and animal cages. "He had some stuff to take care of last minute at home." And by that, he meant that the full moon was just over the previous night and so it took Remus a little while to recuperate.

"Alright then, we'll just see you lot later, then," Marlene said as she started pulling her trunk on the train behind her. "Lily's on there somewhere waiting for us. I don't want to keep her waiting too long."

"I have an idea!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You always have an idea," James said.

"And sometimes they are good ones," Pete said.

"But usually they just mean trouble for us," James finished.

Sirius half-frowned, half-glared at his friends. "I was _going_ to say, we should all just share a compartment! It'll be a tight fit with all of us, but we can make it work! Remus and Lily need to go to the Prefect meeting and do rounds for half the trip anyway."

"I-" James started, then paused. "That's...actually a good idea, Padfoot."

"I'm fine with it," Mary said, earning nods from Emmeline and Marlene. "So who wants to ask Lily?" Everyone looked away from each other and continued pulling all of their luggage onto the train.

"I'll do it," Marlene finally relented as they started walking down the aisle, looking in the different compartments for the redhead. "She already hung out with three of you for a few hours, how different can a train ride really be?"

About halfway down the train they found Lily already sitting cross-legged in a seat, her trunk in the rack above her head.

"Knock-knock," Sirius said as the girls were filing in. "Mind if we join you ladies, Lily?"

Lily looked up from the window in surprise. "Oh, I wasn't expecting you. Hey Sirius. Potter." She nodded to each, then motioned them inside. "Hi Peter. Where's Remus?"

"Running a little late, but he should be here any minute now," James answered her.

"I hope he doesn't miss the train. That would be such a pain," Lily said, wrinkling her nose at the thought. James looked stunned that Lily had actually responded to him, instead of ignoring him completely like she had at Diagon Alley.

_Finally, some progress!_ he mentally cheered.

It took a while for everyone to get situated. They had to push everyone's trunks up into the racks one by one before they could all sit down. And then, once everyone was comfortable, Remus showed up, and they had to rearrange some things _again_ in order to make room for his stuff.

"Ugh, great timing, Moony," Sirius complained with his friends trunk in his face. "Couldn't get here two minutes earlier, could you mate?"

"I almost walked right by you all," Remus said with a chuckle. "I thought there were too many people to be the right compartment." He gave one final push and the trunk settled in the rack. Then he collapsed on the ground next to Mary; the other six had claimed actual seats, and they might be able to squish eight people on them, but it wouldn't be comfortable. "Nice to see you all again."

There were only five minutes left until the train would be leaving, so they spent the time catching up, and filling Peter in on their Diagon Alley Adventure, as Sirius was calling it. He had a much more colorful version to share with a gullible Peter than Lily remembered, but it was amusing to her none-the-less. She found herself laughing a lot, which in all her previous years at school she had never thought would happen. It was a delightful surprise to her, to realize she could in fact get along with the Marauders. And she secretly found herself hoping it would stay this way: easy, happy, and silly. She wanted that happiness in her life.

"They were all ganging up on me, Wormtail," Sirius was saying, "It was awful! And James and Remus wouldn't even help! They're going to _let_ the girls _force _me to go to the library and _lock me in there_!"

Lily laughed, again. "Sirius, I swear the library is _not_ a torture chamber, no matter who led you to this misconception," Lily said, throwing a playful, accusing glare at James. James could swear he felt his heart stop in that moment. Lily Evans was _teasing_ him. "And they said they would only lock you in there if they wanted to get me _out_."

"A threat is a threat, Lily!" Sirius claimed. "I don't _want_ to go to the library!"

"Which is exactly why we shall use you to get Lily out of it," Emmeline stated. "You'll annoy her to death and she won't be able to focus, so she'll be forced to take a break! It's a pretty fool-proof plan, if I do say so myself."

"Except that you told her what you're plan is," James interjected. "The best of plans are secret ones."

"Really, it's like you guys are amateurs at planning mischief or something," Remus said.

At that moment the train's whistle blew, signifying it taking off. Lily stood and straightened out her shirt; the green of it almost perfectly matched her eyes. She held out a hand for Remus, helping him to his feet as well.

"We'll be back after lunch, most likely," Lily said to the group.

"Try not to die of boredom at the meeting," Sirius called to them. "I'd miss you too much! Don't leave me with these people!"

Lily and Remus chuckled as they left.

"I'd miss you too, Sirius," she called back, and found that she meant the words she said in jest, "I promise I won't die."

* * *

James continued to be surprised when Lily kept showing up to hang out with his group of friends. She returned with Remus on the train, of course, but her friends were all there, so that was a given. But then she sat with them at the Welcoming Feast. And they all walked up to Gryffindor Tower together, since neither Remus nor Lily had received the duty of leading the First Years up there.

James was sure that when he woke up in the morning things would go back to how they used to be, with Lily either ignoring him and his friends (except Remus on occasion) or yelling at them for something they did.

He was wrong.

Lily was the early riser of her friends. When she made it down to the Great Hall for breakfast, instead of steering clear of the Marauders, she made directly for them.

"Mates, I think I'm still dreaming," James whispered. "Or do you also see Lily walking over here?"

"Uhh, Prongs," Sirius said, sitting across from his best friend. "You were with us all day yesterday, right? When Lily decided we were actually alright and she could be friends with us?"

James didn't blink, in case this new reality disappeared. "I thought it was a fluke!" he said, still in a whisper.

"I told you she wouldn't hate you if you just stopped asking her out," Remus said through a yawn.

"Oh, is that what you said?" Lily said sedately as she sat next to the werewolf. Remus gave her a sleepy grin. "I guess I have you to thank then."

"Any time, Lils, any time." Remus continued eating sleepily.

"Huh," James said. "If I had known not asking you out would get you to talk to me, I would've stopped ages ago."

Sirius snorted and Peter straight out laughed.

"It's true!" James retorted.

"Sure mate, just keep telling yourself that," Sirius said through a mouthful of toast.

Lily wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Mind your manners, Sirius. Didn't anyone ever tell you it is neither polite nor attractive to talk with your mouth full?"

Sirius shrugged and said, "I might've been told once or twice, but my house training never stuck." This earned a round of chuckles from his friends, though Lily didn't understand exactly what was so funny about his statement.

"So how are you feeling, Remus?" Lily said quietly. "I never got a chance to ask yesterday. Too many people listening in."

Remus sent Lily a grateful smile, while the other three boys looked at her incredulously.

"I'm tired, but that's about it. Thank you for asking."

"Since when does she know?" Sirius demanded in an outraged whisper. He didn't want to say anything too loudly to draw attention to their conversation.

Lily raised her eyebrows at Sirius, giving him a look of disbelief. "Seriously, Sirius?" James chuckled despite the seriousness of the current topic. He couldn't help it, not with that word choice.

"Yes, I am Sirius," he said, feeling obligated to. "Now answer the question."

Lily rolled her green eyes. "Beginning of last year. I'm not stupid, you know. Spent a month or two with Remus on patrols, and I was bound to figure it out."

"I would've been surprised if you didn't," James said confidently. "Welcome to the club, Evans."

Lily grinned at him. "Thanks, Potter." The rest of the girls in their year from Gryffindor were finally making their way into the Great Hall. Lily threw a hand up in the air to wave them over, and then froze and looked away from the door rapidly.

James spun in his seat to see what would make her act like that and sneered when he saw Snape. His sneer quickly turned into a satisfied grin, though, when he noticed Snape taking in Lily's seating choice. James swivelled back around to pay attention to his friends, figuring that annoying Snape would just make Lily angry with him. He definitely did _not_ want to make Lily angry with him, not now that she was willingly hanging out around him.

"Good morning everyone," Emmeline said in that airy way she developed after starting Divination, like she was half here and half in some otherworldly plane. She took a seat across from Lily and on Peter's left.

Mary and Marlene just grunted hellos before collapsing onto the benches, Marlene next to Sirius, and Mary on James' right. The newcomers piled breakfast onto their golden plates, not yet ready to be awake, but knowing they only had so much time until lesson plans would be distributed and classes would begin. Very quickly, it seemed, the Great Hall was flooded with people. All the students needed to be present at this morning's meal in order to receive their schedules. From then on out, all meals were basically come as you please. As soon as the teachers appeared, the Heads of House all began circulating their tables, handing out schedules and making adjustments as needed. For the Sixth Years, this meant removing or adding classes based on what scores the students achieved on their OWL exams.

Thanks to Lily, Mary, Marlene, and Emmeline passed Charms and Potions with flying colors, though Emmeline decided against continuing Potions. It was potentially her least favorite class. Emmeline was taking the minimum of five classes for her NEWT level: Divination, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy.

Mary had been taking Divination out of empathy for Emmeline but had decided to drop it going into NEWT level classes. This gave her a total of six courses: Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy. Mary was the only one of her friends to continue with Arithmancy after OWL level. She was considering getting involved with a Bank of some sort, and figured Arithmancy could only help with that pursuit.

Peter had not managed to pass his Potions OWL with a Exceeds Expectations, so SLughorn refused to let him continue with the subject. This put him down to five courses, since he had managed to get an 'E' in his other classes, mostly thanks to Remus tutoring him. He passed Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy. He and Emmeline were the only ones in the group of Gryffindors to be continuing with Astronomy.

Marlene was also taking six courses, but she had decided on sticking with Herbology, because she was hoping to apply to the Auror program when she was graduating and was told it was a highly favored subject for that field. She needed at least five NEWTs, and with the five core classes, as well as Care of Magical Creatures, and help from Lily when it came time for studying, she figured she might just make it into the Auror program.

Little did Marlene know she had the same _exact_ schedule of classes as Sirius and James. Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures. And Lily and Remus were the least sane of the group, taking on seven NEWT subjects. They had all the same as Marlene, Sirius, and James, but on top of that course load, they also signed up for Ancient Runes.

"You're both insane," Sirius declared after looking over Lily and Remus' schedule.

"Maybe, but we are happy in our insanity," Lily said. "And look at that, I get to start my semester with Potions!" She almost jumped for joy out of her seat at that last bit.

It was Double Potions, for those of them taking the class, and Lily was the only one excited about it. Everyone else groaned. They had a whole two hours of hearing how wonderful Lovely Lily was at Potions to look forward to first class at Hogwarts.

"Well it's not my fault the rest of you don't like Professor Slughorn," Lily said indignantly. "Just because he appreciates my natural skill in his subject does not mean you should hate me for it."

Marlene and Mary smothered their laughter at Lily's proclamation.

"Sure, Lily, he's just praising your skill," Marlene finally said when she could speak without laughing.

"He's not just enamored with you and your flattery of him," Mary added.

Lily frowned at her friends. "Just because I know what he likes doesn't mean anything," Lily claimed. "I picked most of it up from older members of the Slug Club when he first asked me to come to one of his parties."

James gave her a sideways look. "You actually go to those things?" he asked her. "Wait, nevermind, that really doesn't surprise me, _Lovely_."

Lily mock-glared at him. And James was again surprised that she took his teasing her so well. "I don't see why any of you don't. Professor Slughorn actually has quite a few good contacts outside of Hogwarts. I've been meeting with Ministry Officials since Second Year. Some even know me by name now."

Mary, Emmeline, and Marlene had already heard this argument many times. They had been teasing Lily about it since she started going to Slughorn's parties. The Marauders, however...this was a new experience to them, and they were having a blast teasing Lily about it. The teasing continued as six of the eight of them made their way to the dungeon classroom. When they got there, they were surprised to find a note on the chalkboard telling them not to take any seats, but rather to wait at the front of the classroom for further instruction.

"Ah, welcome, welcome!" Horace Slughorn said excitedly as he walked into the classroom. "Welcome to NEWT level Potions, Sixth Years!"

Apparently it was a good year for Gryffindor, because six of them had made it, two Ravenclaws (Andrew Stebbins and Bertram Aubrey) and four Slytherins (Lily only knew Snape, Mulciber, Avery, and Rosier).

"You all might be confused as to why I did not want you taking seats straight away," Slughorn began, earning a few nods from around half the class, "and the answer to that question is that this year is the start of some very gruesomely difficult Potion-making. NEWT level magic is infinitely harder than OWL level, and I want all of you to have the best possible chance of making it through to the actual NEWT exams. SO! This being the case, I have decided to assign you all partners."

Lily nearly groaned. She hoped they weren't assigned partners at the same level as them, as that would only give her two options: Remus or Severus, and she wasn't hopeful enough that Slughorn would have noticed her change in friendships. She would rather have to work with almost anyone _but_ Severus at this point. Maybe not any of his Death Eater friends, but still. In direct contrast, Snape was looking hopeful: maybe if they were forced to be partners, Lily would start to see why they had been friends for so long again…

"So I have paired you with someone who is opposite to your level in this class, based on your previous years under my tutelage," Slughorn finished. Lily let out a relieved sigh, while Severus visibly deflated. "Avery and Mulciber, you will be partners this year. Severus, you will be paired with Evan Rosier. Stebbins, you will be with Marlene McKinnon. Aubrey, you will be with Mary McDonald. Lovely, you will be working with Mr. Black, try and keep him in line, will you?" Lily shared a grin with Sirius, who she was starting to quite enjoy at this point. Besides, as she said, anyone was better than being paired with her ex-best friend. "And that leaves Mr. Lupin working with Mr. Potter. Do see if you can keep James focused, please, Remus. Now-" the professor waved his wand at the chalkboard "-get to work brewing the Potion on the board."

Where his previous instructions once were now resided the words "Elixir to Induce Euphoria". Apparently Slughorn wanted to start off with something cheerful. Lily and Sirius chose a table directly behind Remus and James, next to Marlene and Andrew Stebbins, and in front of Snape and Rosier, though honestly Snape chose the table after Lily and Sirius had already seated themselves.

"Alright, Sirius, can I trust you to gather the proper ingredients, or do I need to hold your hand for that as well?" Lily said.

"Ooooh, trying to hold my hand already, Evans?" Sirius retorted. "I knew my charms would work on you eventually."

Lily scoffed. "Please, Sirius, I have most taste than that. I would be holding your hand as a mother to her child and nothing more." Lily could see Remus and James bend over slightly in silent laughter, and smirked, pleased with herself.

Sirius pouted. "Fine. I thought you liked me better than that, Lilykins, but nevermind, I see how it is."

"Lilykins?" was all she said.

"Yup! I decided you needed a nickname that only I use, and Lilykins is going to be it!" Sirius declared.

"Alright Sirius, now go get the ingredients while I get the cauldron heated up," Lily said indulgently. She was secretly please with her new nickname. She had always thought Sirius mostly didn't like her because she was constantly rejecting his best mate, and getting a nickname from him that wasn't completely horrible was a step toward proving herself wrong. She was almost happy that Sirius would be her partner for the year. At the very least, he would be a great source of entertainment. And at best?

Well, they would see.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Chapter 5 already! And the story is gaining followers! You guys rock! I always get so excited when I see TFD has new followers/favorites, or I write this well enough to get reviews :) Thanks everyone! Please let me know what you think about the story, I love to hear from you! Now, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I am still not J.K. Rowling, which is unfortunate, so I still do not own the Harry Potter Universe.

**Chapter 5**

The first few weeks of school passed by in a haze of Quidditch-obsessed students trying out for their respective teams. Lily was fairly certain no one was more obsessive over the sport than Sirius Black and James Potter, though. Before the tryouts, Lily couldn't go a day without Sirius complaining, to her or Remus or James or anyone else who would listen, about being forced by his best mate to re-tryout for the games.

"You know I'm the best bloody Beater in this school!" was a common phrase to hear from Sirius. Lily even smacked him upside the head after he said it to her for the twentieth time. During Potions classes, Lily had taken to Silencing Sirius so that she could focus and tell him what to do without having to listen to him complain. Everyone in the class cheered the first time she did it.

But, by the end of the second week back at Hogwarts, all of the teams were put together, and some people were disappointed to not make it onto a team, but mostly people were relieved the stress was over. The captains could finally go about their normal routine without being harassed by all the potential players. This meant that James-and his fellow Sixth Year Gryffindors by extension-could finally have a meal in peace.

By the end of the first month back at school, everyone-James included-stopped being surprised by the fact that Lily Evans was willingly hanging out with the Marauders. It had become such a frequent occurrence that people were more surprised if she wasn't with them. Lily was actually really close with Sirius, being forced into close proximity with him every Potions class. She was even sort of friends with Peter; she thought he was odd, but overall a decent enough bloke, though she was sure that if he hadn't been friends with the Marauders she probably never would have noticed him. Peter sort of faded into the background, he was just one of those people not destined to live life in the limelight.

What surprised Lily the most about hanging out with the Marauders was their complete lack of superiority as a whole. They were shockingly not very self-involved. Yes, they thought they were fantastic, but when they were with each other, all they thought about was having a good time. And they were more than willing to bring Lily into the joy that was their lives. Lily found herself laughing more in the first month of Sixth Year than she could remember in her first five at Hogwarts. And she didn't once have to tell the Marauders (mostly James or Sirius) off for hexing anyone. She was fairly certain they gave it up, since she hadn't heard anything about a confrontation with the two black-haired boys involved from anyone, and it made her proud of them, and relieved and happy that she _didn't_ have to be angry with them.

The end of the first month at school also saw the Prefects planning the first weekend trip to Hogsmeade. Remus and Lily were sitting in the weekly meeting, held in the Staff room on the ground level. It was always a long trek for the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Prefects, so the meetings were typically scheduled for right after dinner time on a Friday night so that they didn't have to make the trip through the castle twice.

"And the last topic of discussion: Hogsmeade," the Head Boy said. "How does two weekends from now sound to everyone?"

Most people were making noises of approval. Lily and Remus shared a frowning glance. Two weekends meant the next full moon, meaning Remus wouldn't be able to go on their first Hogsmeade trip.

"Why not make it three weekends from now?" Lily said. "That would put it the weekend before Halloween. Wouldn't it be better to allow the students a weekend away from Hogwarts closer to the holiday? Maybe have the more rambunctious ones burn off excess energy so that they won't cause trouble for every during Halloween?"

The Head Boy started nodding slowly, thinking it over. "Good idea, Lily," he finally agreed. "It might be a little farther away, but that gives all the students more time to plan for the trip anyway. Three weekends then?" This time everyone quickly agreed. Since it was the last subject they needed to talk about, everyone just wanted to be done with it so they could go to their respective dormitories.

Everyone filed out of the room, Lily and Remus letting the others leave first. Once they were in the Entrance Hall, Remus casually threw an arm around Lily's shoulders and they began to make their way up the stairs.

"You are the best, Lily," Remus said.

"I know," Lily agreed, laughing. "It's taken you long enough to figure that fact out, though."

Remus fake-scowled at the girl who had become one of his very best friends. "Seriously, though, thank you, Lily."

Lily shrugged, looking at Remus with her startlingly green eyes. "It's really not a big deal, Remus. Hogsmeade wouldn't be the same if you weren't there." Remus continued to look at Lily even after she turned away. She would never know exactly how much her action in the meeting meant to him. "Besides, who else would help me keep Potter and Black in line?"

'Potter' and 'Black' had ceased to be derogatory names for Lily. She used them as terms of endearment instead, just as 'Evans' had become James' own personal name for Lily. None of her other friends called her Evans, and if they did, it was never said in the same tone that James used. It was the same tone he used no matter what he called Lily, the one that told everyone he was still in love with her.

"So I take it you are planning on joining us then?" Remus asked. "For the trip to Hogsmeade?"

Lily made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. "I don't think I could handle the four of you for a full day."

Remus gave her a look out of the corner of his eye. "Don't you do that most days anyways?"

"Only when the majority of that time is spent in classes," Lily argued. "The four of you for an entire day without the few constraints Hogwarts imparts on you…" Lily shuddered while Remus objected to being lumped in with James and Sirius' antics. "No, thank you." Remus looked a little crestfallen at this last remark, so Lily added, "But maybe we can all meet up for some lunch and drinks in the Three Broomsticks?"

"That sounds-" Remus began agreeing enthusiastically when he was cut off.

"Well what do you know? Potter's Mudblood girlfriend is making a date with one of his best friends behind his back."

Lily whipped around, pulling out her wand at the same time and aiming it directly at Avery's chest. Remus made a similar, more restrained move, turning slowly and keeping his wand held loosely, half-raised in front of his body. The wanna-be Death Eaters had been more and more vocal about their distaste of sharing the school with those they considered to be 'impure'. He knew this confrontation had been inevitable, facing down Avery, Mulciber, and Rosier, all with their wands drawn, but he had been hoping they wouldn't be outnumbered.

"It's none of your business who I make plans with, Avery," Lily said in her most haughty tone. She had gotten really good at it, with all the practice she had on James over the years. "And I am _not_ James Potter's girlfriend."

"Ooo, the little redhead's got some fire in her," Mulciber taunted, waving his wand in slow little circles by his side.

"You all should already be in your Common Room," Remus stated in his Prefect voice, resisting the urge to pull a James and just hex Mulciber. "What are you doing all the way up on the Fourth Floor?"

Rosier smirked; he was by far the most intelligent of the three of them, which begged the question: where were Snape and Wilkes? The whole lot of them usually travelled in a pack. "Wilkes got knocked off his broom during Quidditch practice. Got a nasty bump on his head, so we were just being concerned friends, visiting our mate while he's confined to the Hospital Wing," Rosier answered.

Lily scowled, knowing full well that they were most likely telling the truth, but still not liking her situation at all. She had been avoiding lone run-ins with Slytherins all month. She didn't want to deal with the name-calling that came with the territory, but now she realized she should have been worrying about a lot worse than name-calling. These boys were hoping to be recruited to Voldemort's inner circle when they left Hogwarts, maybe even before they left. They would do a lot worse than call Lily names, if given the chance. And wandering the halls with just one other person, no matter how skilled they both were, just was _not_ a good plan for their safety.

"Well get a move on down to the dungeon before I decide to dock points for you lot being out of bed too late, regardless of the reason," Lily commanded, trying desperately not to show her fear.

"Is that a threat, Miss Perfect Prefect?" Avery growled out at her, his wand hand twitching ever-so-slightly. "I don't _like_ threats."

"None of you are Prefects, and so none of you are allowed out of your dormitories at this hour," Remus said. "Get out of here before we stop being lenient."

Rosier's eyes narrowed in anger, and his wand arm came up to point directly at Lily and Remus. "Do you really think you are in the position to be ordering us around? It's three against two, and what do we care about a few House points at this stupid school?"

Lily gulped, and she swore the Slytherins could hear it even from five feet away. She knew that Rosier meant it, and that he spoke for all of them. She also knew they _wanted_ to hurt her, just because she had Muggle parents.

"Fine, twenty points from Slytherin since you don't want to move along," Lily said, sounding much more confident than she felt. "Whether you get to your rooms or not, I am tired and not on duty tonight, so Remus and I will be going."

Lily reached for Remus' hand, and just as she was about to make contact, she was blasted off her feet and into the wall behind her. Her breath left her in an 'oof' as she made contact with the rock wall, and then she fell to the ground in a heap, her vision blurry and her lungs not functioning correctly. She was desperately gasping for air, trying to keep enough in her body so that she wouldn't pass out. During all this time, she could make out flashes of light, though her mind couldn't process exactly what they meant.

"Lily!"

She tried to turn her head to the familiar, yet not-quite-recognize voice, she really did. Her head just didn't want to turn until she stopped seeing black stars over all the flashes.

"Lily, are you okay?" Remus' face swam into view for Lily. She didn't answer him, but did give him a very confused look. "James and Sirius showed up," he answered her unspoken question. "Can you move everything? Fingers, toes, head?"

Lily nodded, answering the last part, then held up her wand-free hand in between their faces and moved her fingers around. She was amazed, and happy with herself, that she had held onto her wand throughout her attack.

"Help me up?" she said, keeping her hand in front of her face for Remus to pull her up by.

He grabbed her hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist to pull her to her feet. Once she was stable, Lily waved her arm in a big arc, throwing up a Shield Charm between the furiously dueling Gryffindors and Slytherins. The fighting stopped immediately. Rosier, Mulciber, and Avery all glared at Lily, silently promising more of the same treatment in the future.

On the other hand, James and Sirius bolted to Lily's side. Sirius pulled her into a hug, leaving an arm around her waist to help her walk away from the scene of the fight.

"Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing, Lily?" Remus asked in a calm voice.

"Does she need to go to the Hospital Wing?" James asked furiously. "What kind of question is that? Of course she-"

"James," Lily said softly, halting his tirade instantly. It was the first time she had ever called him James. Even in his anger, his heart couldn't help but leap for joy. "I'm fine, mostly. My back hurts, and it's a little hard to breathe, but I really do _not_ want to be stuck in the Hospital with Wilkes for company tonight."

James scowled at the mention of another member of the Slytherin gang he had just been fighting off, and nodded in agreement. "Alright then, but just let us help you the rest of the way to Gryffindor, yeah?" he said as he took up his position in the front of the group. Remus and Sirius each kept an arm around Lily, holding most of her weight between them.

"You had me worried there, Lilykins," Sirius said in a light tone of voice. Lily now knew that it was his way of trying to ease the tension. "Scared half my life away, swear to Merlin."

Lily half-smirked, half-grimaced. "I was really hoping they wouldn't actually start a fight," she explained. "I was trying to grab Remus to pull us both away from them, took my eyes off of them for a split second, and next thing I know, I'm hitting a wall. Bloody bastards."

"Ugh, I thought you knew better than that, Evans," James said, half-teasing, but mostly meaning it. "You could duel against me and give me a run for my money. Why in the world would you give them an opening like that and not me?"

"Didn't want to give you the satisfaction, Potter," Lily said with a grin. "I needed to deflate your head some way, since clearly calling you names had no affect, you arrogant toe-rag."

The insult was no longer an insult. It had morphed into Lily's version of teasing James, rather than being used to try to hurt him. James grinned at her over his shoulder, glad she was sounding like herself again. The rest of the journey to Gryffindor Tower passed without incident, and when they were finally in the Common Room, Lily flopped on her stomach onto the only empty couch left.

"Don't hog the whole thing, Lilykins!" Sirius demanded, pulling Lily's legs up so that he could sit, making Lily giggle. Lily's feet ended up splayed on his lap.

"Too tired to move, Sirius," Lily complained. "Don't make me."

"It's fine," Remus said, making his way to Lily's head. "I think I can manage to move you for you." He jerked his wand up and gently levitated Lily enough that he could slip onto the couch next to Sirius with Lily's shins over his own legs. James just decided to sprawl on the floor in front of the couch, his head close to where Lily's was resting on the cushion.

"Where's Peter, by the way?" Lily asked. It was odd to see these three without Peter tagging along as well.

Sirius and James chuckled mischievously. "He landed himself in detention," Sirius said. "Clumsy idiot got himself caught after we finished setting up our last prank."

Lily laughed, remembering the prank fondly. They had changed all the Slytherins' badges to say some form of profanity. It was a harmless prank, as far as the Marauders were concerned, but it was all the more hilarious because none of the Slytherins had noticed until they were in the Great Hall for breakfast and the other Houses started pointing and laughing.

"I don't think I've ever seen you laugh at one of our pranks before this year, Evans," James commented. "When did your sense of humor change so much?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "You really think it changed?" She looked into James' hazel eyes and saw that he meant it. He actually thought she had hated the Marauders' pranks before this year. "I never hated them," she answered candidly. "I always admired them, and would only grudgingly admit they were amusing to Marlene, and then swore her to secrecy. I never laughed because I didn't want to encourage you. I didn't want you to think there was anything I liked about you. I don't want to know how much worse you could have been about asking me out than you already were when you thought I didn't like anything at all about you." Lily added a grimace at the end.

James blushed a little, embarrassed because she was right. If he had thought she liked him in any way at all before, he would have been even more relentless than he was. "Sorry about that, Evans."

"Oh Merlin, please say we have that on video!" Lily said, earning questioning looks from James and Sirius.

"No electronics at Hogwarts, remember Lily?" Remus said.

"I know, but really?" Lily complained. "I _never_ thought I'd hear an apology from _James Potter_ of all people!"

"What's a video?" Sirius asked, still stuck on the part he didn't understand.

"A Muggle invention to record real-life events. It's like Wizard photos, the moving images, but the image is always the same," Lily explained.

"Huh, interesting. Now James!" Sirius said, his focus rapidly shifting. "How could you apologize? Marauders never apologize!"

"Ah, knew we'd find you lot down here with all the sudden noise," Marlene said from behind the couch.

"Tell him, Marlene!" Sirius exclaimed.

"That you lot never say you're sorry?" Marlene said. "No way. I'm not enforcing that one, because I'm still waiting on an apology from you, Sirius Black, for turning my beautiful blonde hair _green_ in Second Year."

Sirius laughed, and even Remus chuckled, at that memory. Marlene had stuck up for Lily when she was arguing with James and Sirius about their pranks, so Sirius decided to turn her hair green when he couldn't think up a good enough come-back.

"I had nearly forgotten about that one," Lily said through her laughter. "Or how about the time you all stuck everyone to their seats in the Great Hall, saying it should be mealtime all day?"

"That was a classic," Remus agreed, sighing overdramatically in contentment.

"Unfortunately it was also far too easy for McGonagall to reverse," James said sadly. "Lasted about a minute, it did. We'll need to find a better Sticking Charm the next time we want to do something like that."

The five Gryffindors spent the rest of the night recollecting old pranks, until someone finally noticed that Lily had fallen asleep.

"That's strange," Marlene remarked. "She never usually falls asleep anywhere but her own bed." The three Marauders shared a glance, and Marlene caught the significance of it. "What happened?" she demanded.

Remus sighed, and then explained the whole confrontation. By the end of it, Marlene was shaking with ill-contained rage. She was ready to snap when James wrapped his hand around her forearm.

"Act normally," James said. "Please. She was shaken up really badly, and I don't think she wants to dwell on it. She made a decent effort at changing the subject, at least."

Marlene deflated quickly, mostly because she was so worried about her best friend. "What are we going to do?" she asked quietly, and rhetorically.

"Keep her safe, of course," Sirius answered immediately even though he knew Marlene wasn't expecting or looking for an answer.

James looked to his best mate and nodded, then said, "We've got most of the same classes anyway, so it should be easy to stick to her. We won't leave her on her own anywhere outside of Gryffindor. There's no way I'll let her get hurt like that again."

Marlene stared solemnly at James, then at Remus and Sirius.

"I'm really glad she doesn't hate you lot anymore," Marlene said. "Thank you for being there for her."

James just smiled a sad smile. "I would have been there for her, even if she kept on hating me. And I will always be there for her now."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Hello readers! Thanks everyone who has followed/favorited TFD! It makes me happy every time I see someone new tagging along for the ride. This chapter will actually pick up right from where the last one left off, just so everyone knows. That's basically all I have to say, so without further ado…

**Disclaimer: **I am not J. K. Rowling…

**Chapter 6**

Eventually James was the only one left in the Common Room, with just a sleeping Lily for company on the couch behind him. Peter had come through near the end of the night, only managing to hang out for a quarter of an hour before everyone was heading up to bed. Marlene had offered to take Lily up to their dorm, but James had told her he would wake Lily and send her up before he went to bed himself. James was mostly calm now, but he could still feel the tendrils of anger and fear that had overridden him earlier that night.

He and Sirius had been watching the Marauders map so that they would know when Remus would finally be back from the Prefects meeting. That was when the fear had hit: Remus and Lily alone against Avery, Mulciber, and Rosier. All three of them were good duellers, and Lily and Remus were brilliant, but they were also Prefects and could never just start hexing other students without it actually being in defense of themselves or other students.

So of course, James and Sirius ran as fast as they could to where their friends were, to find Lily nearly unconscious against a wall with Remus struggling against the three Slytherins. That was when the mad hit. James flew into the fight with all his fury: _who in the world would fight someone three on one_? he remembered thinking. Of course, later he realized that was the way the Slytherins liked to fight, with the battle one-sided in their favor, which is why they disappeared rather quickly once Lily was back on her feet and it would be four against three. James was still amazed at the strength of Lily's Shield Charm, especially because moments before she cast it, she had been nearly unconscious. Of course, it just gave James another reason to love her.

James turned his head to gaze at Lily's sleeping face. She looked completely relaxed, her lips slightly parted as she breathed in and out, and her dark red, wavy hair a tumbling mass to halfway down her back. James had always thought she was breathtakingly beautiful, especially her eyes, which always gave away what she was feeling. There never was and never would be anyone else for James, even if she never learned to love him like he loved her. But James was forever an optimist, and he still had the rest of Sixth Year and all of Seventh to convince her he was worth her time. James turned his head back to forward to gaze at the fire as his thoughts churned.

"Mmmhhg…" Lily groaned incoherently, making James smirk.

Her arm fell off the edge of the couch, her hand landing on James' shoulder. On the contact, Lily jolted a little, sufficiently waking herself up to notice it was just her and James left in the Common Room.

"James," Lily began, and he thrilled at the sound of his first name from her voice, "where'd everyone go?" She was rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Well since it's midnight," James said sardonically, "I would say they are asleep in their own beds." He gave Lily his customary lopsided smirk.

Lily made to sit up and stretch, but halfway through the motion, she cringed and fell back to the couch instead.

"Lily?" James asked, instantly on his knees next to her, concerned. "What's wrong?"

Lily eyed James a little oddly. It was funny, but James saying her name sounded completely different from anyone else saying her name. "Back hurts," she answered curtly, still rolling around the sound of her name on James' tongue in her mind. She thought she could easily get used to hearing it.

James hopped to his feet immediately and wrapped an arm around Lily's waist, and he felt a powerful jolt of pleasure that she was letting him touch her, and that she wasn't shouting at him to leave her be. He eased Lily into a sitting position on the couch and sat himself down next to her, but withdrew his arm. He figured she _would_ start shouting, or at least telling him off, if he held on to her.

"Better?" James asked once they were both situated.

"Yes, thank you," Lily said gratefully. She would have to work her way to standing. She looked into James' hazel eyes intently while she said her next sentence. "And _thank you_, for showing up to help us earlier."

"Always, Evans," James responded seriously. "I will always protect you."

Lily frowned at that. "I don't need protection." James made to interrupt, but Lily just kept going. "I appreciate you protecting me tonight, but I am _not_ helpless, and I do _not_ need anyone to keep me safe while they fight my battles for me. Rosier caught me by surprise tonight, but that will _never_ happen again."

James and Lily hadn't broken eye contact throughout her mini-speech, and James hesitated before nodding in agreement. "I still don't think you should go anywhere completely alone," James said honestly. "And it's not just you. I don't think anyone being targeted by Death Eater wanna-be's should go anywhere alone. At least not late at night. It isn't safe."

"I agree," Lily said, surprising James. "I don't want to be caught alone or short-handed against them again."

Lily further surprised James by leaning her head on his shoulder, folding her legs up onto the couch beside her. James stopped breathing. He was positive his heart was going to explode if his pulse sped up anymore. _Lily Evans_ was willingly, of her own free will, touching _him_, James Potter. He _must_ be dreaming. Or Lily thought much better of him than he had thought.

"Evans?" James asked once he was sure he could speak normally.

"Lily, James," she corrected, and he mentally jumped for joy.

"Okay, Lily," he said, loving being able to say her name, to call her by her first name. "Are we friends now then? I mean, I know you have been close with Remus for a while now, and you and Sirius are pretty good mates, but-" James had started talking faster and faster as he continued, letting his thoughts pour out of mouth until Lily covered his mouth with her hand.

"Haven't we been friends for weeks now?" Lily asked him, sitting back up fully and looking at him with her emerald green eyes sparkling with humor. "I mean really, James, I wouldn't talk to you, or still be sitting here with you, if I didn't consider you a friend."

"Huh," was all James managed to say after that. He ruffled his hair, then pushed his glasses up more securely on his nose. He smirked at Lily then, that crooked grin that so many girls melted over. "So what's it like being friends with all of the Marauders then?"

"Exhausting. And hectic," Lily answered honestly. "You lot are a handful. And I never know what's coming next. My life has never been this haywire before." She was smiling saying all this. She had also never been this happy before, but she was _not _going to tell James Potter that.

"It's all part of the Marauders package," James said proudly. "Besides, I bet you're having fun with us." He gave her a playful wink.

"I still absolutely refuse to spend all of the Hogsmeade trip with you lot," Lily said adamantly. "I really don't want to be driven mad over the course of the day."

"Oh that's right, when is Hogsmeade?" James asked intently.

"Really James, you have no faith in me," Lily said, crossing her arms over her chest, correctly reading his intensity for what it was. "Would I really have it so Remus has to miss the first Hogsmeade trip? Or any Hogsmeade trip?"

James sighed in relief. "You're the best, Lily."

Lily smirked in contentment. "Took you long enough to catch on there."

James' expression grew serious, his eyebrows drawing down over his hazel eyes. "I've known it since First Year, Lily."

Lily's smirk disappeared, and her breath caught in her throat. She bit down on her bottom lip, a nervous habit. She broke eye contact, choosing to look at the flames instead. She began twirling a strand of her red hair around her forefinger.

"Well, it's late," Lily said suddenly, cautiously getting to her feet. She was glad when it didn't hurt. She turned to give James a cheerful wave as she started walking towards the staircase to the Girls' Dormitories. "Good night, James."

"Good night, Lily," James said quietly, still with his serious expression. He hoped she knew what he meant by that. That he has always held her in high esteem, no matter what arguments they had, or what they yelled at each other, or however many times they had hexed each other, she was always _it_ for him. Once she was out of sight, James pulled himself to his feet and dragged himself to bed. It was almost one in the morning, after all, and he had a Quidditch practice to lead in the morning.

* * *

Lily woke up early the Saturday of the Hogsmeade trip. She wanted to spend as much time as possible in the Wizarding town. One of her favorite things about Hogsmeade trips was not have to wear the school uniforms. She was looking forward to a day spent in her favorite jeans, a pretty green sweater that nearly matched her eye color perfectly, and a deep brown jacket that had a tie more for style than anything else around the waist. Once she was dressed Lily glanced at the watch on her right wrist. It was almost an acceptably late enough time that Marlene wouldn't kill her for waking her up. Lily casually swished her wand, a grin on her face, which emitted an alarm clock buzz repeatedly.

"Ugh…" Marlene groaned into her pillow, pulling her blanket up over her head. She continued speaking, but her voice was so muffled that Lily couldn't understand what Marlene was saying.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Lily said in a falsely sweet tone of voice.

"Shut your damn wand alarm off, Lily," Mary grumbled as her feet swung over the side of her bed and hit the floor.

"We get it, it's Hogsmeade weekend," Emmeline said through a giant yawn as she stretched. "We're up and moving."

Lily flicked her wrist and the noise ceased immediately. "You lot said I couldn't go without you, so I had to resort to waking you all up earlier than you like," Lily explained to their sleep-muddled brains.

"I hate you," Marlene said as she literally rolled out of bed. She had perfected the move, though, so she still landed on her feet in the process. Her wavy blonde hair was sleep-tussled, and her baby blue eyes were still not quite as bright as they usually were; Lily would give her some time to wake up before rushing the four of them down to breakfast.

It took the other three nearly half an hour to get themselves ready, rotating turns in the bathroom for their morning rituals. Once they were all dressed and prepared for a day away from the castle, Lily herded everyone rather hastily down the stairs to the Common Room and out of Gryffindor Tower.

"Lily, there is no such thing as being _late_ for Hogsmeade," Marlene said irritably. She did not like being woken up on the weekends, the two days a week she could sleep in as much as she wanted, unless her dictator of a Captain decided on practice at dawn of course.

"There is for me," Lily said in a sing-song voice.

"Why are we friends with her again?" Mary said to Emmeline, loud enough for Lily to hear.

"I think we got wrangled into it by Marlene," Emmeline answered. Lily turned to glare at her friends over her shoulder. "Marlene thought it was a good idea to be friends with all our roommates. And she helps us pass all our classes, so I guess we can stay friends with the evil one who makes us get up and functioning at _eight o'clock in the morning._"

Lily just grinned at the two brunettes walking behind her and Marlene. "You all love me and you know it."

Marlene raised her eyebrows and teased, "Remember the whole passing our classes thing? That's why."

Lily's mouth dropped open in false shock and assumed a hurt expression. "And here I thought our friendship was more than just an abuse of my awesome study powers and natural talents as a Witch."

Mary snorted out a laugh and then said, "And you accused Potter of having a big head all those years? Did you ever look in the mirror?"

Lily just flashed her friends a huge, faux-innocent smile. "I never said I _wasn't_ arrogant, just that _he_ was."

Their bantering continued all the way until they reached the Great Hall and breakfast. They ate rather quickly, since now that they were up all of the girls were actually looking forward to Hogsmeade. As they were leaving the Great Hall and about to exit the Entrance Hall through the main front doors, they heard a shout behind them.

"Oh, it's you lot," Marlene said, feigning disinterest in the approaching Marauders. She was actually quite happy to be spending more time with them. It was a relief not having to get between Lily and the boys anymore.

"Running off to Hogsmeade without me, Lilykins? How could you?" Sirius asked over-dramatically.

"It was a hard decision, Sirius dear," Lily said, placing a comforting hand on his forearm, "but I have come to the conclusion that these girls need me more than you do." She pulled her hand away and stepped back to rejoin her other friends as Sirius pouted. "And I don't want to lose my mind spending all day with the Marauders, so see you in the Three Broomsticks around one o'clock, yeah?"

"Sounds good," James said for the four of them, his crooked grin in place, and gave Lily a wink.

"Can we go get something to eat now?" Peter complained. "I'm starving."

"You didn't have to tag along, Wormtail," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes as the boys made their way to the Great Hall. Remus waved to the girls as he trailed along next to James. "You _can_ go in to breakfast without our supervision."

The girls were all chuckling and shaking their heads as the boys left arguing. It was typical Marauder behavior. As they walked through the Entrance Hall doors, they all pulled their coats tight and zipped or buttoned them up against the chilly autumn wind that was gusting. Autumn was one of Lily's favorite seasons. The leaves all changed color, and the air took on that crisp smell that she could only describe as autumn, and everything went still, as though the whole of nature was taking a deep breath at once before the plunge into winter.

At the gates at the exit of the Hogwarts grounds, Filch stood waiting to check all of the students with permission to go to Hogsmeade against his enormous list. The girls filed through, trying not to laugh at Filch's overly-suspicious nature. He was sure someone was lying about who they were, which was probably why McGonagall stood with him, making sure things ran smoothly. Lily always wondered why McGonagall didn't just check names off herself.

"So Lily," Marlene began as soon as they were all off of the school grounds.

"So Marlene," Lily said in imitation.

The blonde scowled at her best friend. "James couldn't stop talking about how you two are _friends_ now at practice the other day," Marlene confided. "If I hadn't been witnessing this relationship develop myself, I would never have believed it. I think half the school is waiting for you to blow up at him one day, like it's some big long prank you're playing."

"He still talks about her all the time?" Mary said incredulously.

"This surprises you, why?" Emmeline responded dryly. "The day James Potter is over Lily Evans is the day the world turns inside out."

Lily blushed, damn her red-headed complexion, and ducked her head. "Like James said, we are _friends_," Lily said determinedly. "Nothing more, nothing less. It's much different being his friend than I thought it would be."

"That's because you never used to listen to me," Marlene said, crossing her arms over her chest. The four of them had reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade by this point. Marlene needed new dress robes for Slughorn's party the she and Lily were attending this Halloween, so they were headed to the only wizard-wear shop in the small town. "I always told you he wasn't as bad as you always saw him. You make him do stupid things, apparently. Tries to show off too much, the bloody idiot."

Lily rolled her eyes at Emmeline, trying to get someone on her side.

"Don't look at me like that, Lovely," Emmeline said immediately. "I thought you should give him a chance from the beginning. There's something about the two of you that just...suits." She paused before the last word, like she was trying to find just the right description.

"Oh come on," Lily complained. "Have you always secretly been on Potter's side as well, Mary?"

Mary just grinned sheepishly, half-heartedly shrugging her shoulders. Lily threw her hands up in the air in exasperation.

"It's back to 'Potter' now, is it?" Marlene said suggestively as she pushed open the door to the robe shop. "Just a minute ago it was 'James'. Seems like you two are getting close rather quickly, since it was 'Potter' at the start of term."

"Marlene, I'm going to strangle you with the sleeve of a robe," Lily threatened, though they all knew she didn't really mean it.

"Ooo, and she gets defensive," Mary said as she sifted through the dress robes hanging on one side of the small shop.

"A sure sign of denial," Emmeline finished the thought for Mary.

"Denial of _what_, exactly?" Lily asked in a defeated tone.

"That you like James Potter, of course," Mary said.

"Well of course I like him," Lily said, confused as to why this was a topic of interest, considering they had been hanging out with James and company for nearly two months at this point. "Friends equals liking, right?"

"We mean you _like_ like him, Lovely," Marlene said with her head tilted in examination of a new find. The robes were a deep blue with silvery stars decorating it sparingly.

"Try them on," Lily advised before acknowledging her friends statement. "And I do _not_ like James as anything more than a friend. That's just absurd of you all to think so."

"Sure Lily, just keep telling yourself that," Mary muttered.

Lily chose to ignore her and sat in one of the few chairs in the shop, waiting while Marlene pulled on the pretty blue robes over her clothes. Once Marlene had the robes on and oriented correctly, she walked over to look herself over in the wall mirror that was near Lily's seat. The robes suited Marlene's complexion, and helped darken her eyes somewhat to make them stand out a bit more.

"They look great," Lily said.

"Better than great," Marlene retorted. "I look fabulous in these. This was a truly lucky find. First try and everything."

The shop attendant came over, since she had apparently been listening to Marlene appraisal of the robes from afar, and began tapping them here and there with her wand to adjust the fit so that they were perfect.

"Now Lily," Marlene said once she had her purchase and they were exiting the shop. "Back to the subject, if you say you really don't have extra feelings for James, why not just test it out?"

Mary and Emmeline grinned at each other behind Lily's back. Marlene had been waiting years, literally, to say this to Lily, so they knew exactly what was coming. And it would be priceless if Lily actually went for it.

Lily narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her friend, wary of her next sentence. Yet she was curious at the same time, so she couldn't help but ask, "And how would I do that?"

Marlene grinned triumphantly. "Kiss him, of course."

Lily stopped in her tracks, with her eyes widened and her mouth fallen open. "Excuse me?"

Marlene shrugged nonchalantly, continuing as though Lily hadn't halted. Mary and Emmeline were laughing hysterically at Lily's reaction. "That's how I always tell if a guy is just a friend or more than that."

It wasn't actually Marlene's intent to get Lily to kiss James, just to make Lily start questioning her feelings. Marlene knew that once Lily cooled off she _would_ start to actually consider what Marlene had said about liking James. Just because Lily couldn't tell that they belonged together didn't mean that Marlene didn't see it. And Marlene was determined to break down Lily's stubborn wall that would keep James at a certain distance, no matter how much he changed.

"Well that's just dandy for you," Lily said dramatically. "Me? Kiss James Potter just to see if _your_ theory about _my_ feelings is correct? Why in the world would I agree to that?"

Mary scoffed, finally over her laughing fit. "Who wouldn't want to kiss James _or_ Sirius _or_ Remus, for any reason?" Marlene and Emmeline made sounds of agreement to her statement.

"I mean, if you're too scared to put it to the test, Lils, it's no big deal," Emmeline said, purposefully sounding placating, knowing it would egg Lily on. "I'm sure Marlene wouldn't want you to do anything you aren't comfortable with."

Lily narrowed her eyes at the perceived jab at her nerves. "I'm not scared," Lily claimed. "I just have no interest in testing your theory since it is groundless. If I ever change my mind, I'll let you know." Lily emphasized the closure of that particular discussion by walking off in a huff down the street to Scrivenshaft's.

"She should say when..." Mary muttered to Emmeline and Marlene as they trailed slowly after Lily, all three sharing knowing looks.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thanks for tuning in, and please leave a review to let me know what you thought! (Am I getting the characters personalities across well enough? It's what I usually struggle with in my writing...)


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **I apologize for keeping everyone waiting for an update for longer than a week! We have been having SO MANY problems with our electronics over the past week and a half. First my boyfriend's computer died for some unknown reason, now we are fairly certain the either RAM or power supply in my computer needs replacing because I couldn't get any signal to my monitor for a few days, and last but not least, our internet decided to stop functioning periodically...

SO, moving on from all my issues, THANK YOU everyone who has supported this story with reviews/follows/favorites. Every time I get a notification about any of these things it makes me so incredibly happy! Now without further ado, please enjoy the latest chapter in the lives of Lily, James, and their friends (at least in my happy-ish fanfiction-y world).

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry potter. Anything recognizable is property of the amazing J.K. Rowling.

**Chapter 7**

"I'd say that was a successful Zonko's jaunt," James said as the Marauders strolled down the cobbled street.

"We are now even better equipped to wreak havoc throughout the Hogwarts halls," Sirius said, finishing with an evil-villain-esque laugh. Peter laughed gleefully along with him.

"I don't think we really needed any help from Zonko's products," Remus said. "Although they certainly make our pranks more fun."

"Course they do!" Sirius said cheerily. "They give us way more options, Moony. It's brilliant."

"We should plant the dungbombs in the Slytherin Common Room," Peter said with a snicker.

"Obviously the plan, mate," James said. "But we have to find a trigger for them to go off. And give the surprise a little something extra…" He trailed off, trying to think of something good.

"Maybe have the smoke they give off dye the Slytherins colors?" Remus suggested.

Sirius grinned wickedly. "Brilliant, Moony!"

"Why thank you, Padfoot," Remus said in an overly gracious voice, giving a semi-bow as they walked down the street.

"Can we pop in to Honeyduke's for a bit?" Peter asked a bit timidly, still so afraid of being rejected by these boys who called him friend. Even after all the four had been through, he was still insecure, afraid.

"Course we can, Pete," James said immediately.

"Yeah Wormtail, we can't have Padfoot completely depleting his sugar stores again, can we?" Remus joked. James and Peter shuddered at the memory of the rampaging, sugar-deprived Sirius.

"That was _one time_," Sirius said indignantly.

"Yep, and we'll never let you forget it, mate," James replied, shoving his hands in his pockets to guard them from the chill wind. "Besides, we should get tons extra sweets. It's Halloween next week. I think it's the perfect time for the Marauders first party of the year."

"Yes!" Sirius said, jumping up and punching the air in his excitement. He continued rambling on about all the things they would need as they scoured the walls of Honeyduke's, buying as much as they felt was necessary-which was a lot.

"Hey, guys," Remus said once they were back out on the cobblestone street. "It's nearly one."

James and Sirius perked up immediately, both wearing nearly identical grins.

"What's the time got to do with anything?" Peter asked.

"Did we forget to tell you?" Sirius said, actually unsure if Peter had ever known about their plans for the day.

"We have a date with Lily Evans," James said proudly, puffing out his chest slightly.

"Get over yourself, Prongs," Remus said, giving James a light shove. "It's not _just_ Lily. Mary, Emmeline, and Marlene will be there as well."

"Oh," Pete said succinctly. "Didn't hear about that one…"

"Sorry Wormtail. I was trying not to obsess so hard that I guess I forgot that you weren't there the night we made the plans," James said with a guilty grin, his hand immediately going to the back of his head to ruffle his eternally messy black hair. Pete visibly cheered, though, and the Marauders made the short journey to the Three Broomsticks.

"So James, your first date with Lilykins doesn't even count as a date. How does that feel?" Sirius said, unable to make it all of the twenty feet to the pub in silence.

James scowled at his best friend. "Really Sirius?" They all refrained from using the word 'serious'. The jokes Sirius made gave him too much pleasure. "You had to go there?"

Sirius had the decency to look a little shamed. "Sorry Prongs. But at least she said yes to this one, right? That's progress!"

"But this isn't," Remus said in a low tone as they entered, indicating the sight in front of them with a nod of his head.

They were met with the sight of Lily in a heated conversation with Severus. Severus was miraculously on his own.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Severus," Lily was saying, her arms crossed. "It doesn't change what they did, and it doesn't change that they would do worse if given the chance. Just thinking about what Mulciber did to Mary a while ago makes my blood run cold!"

James remembered Mary being in the Hospital Wing with some serious cuts and bruises. It had not been a pretty sight. He wasn't that close with Mary, but he could imagine coming across one of his friends like that, coming across Lily like that…

James took an aggressive step forward, his hand reaching for his wand.

Lily's emerald eyes shot over Severus' shoulder to meet his hazel ones and he froze in place. Lily shook her head.

"It's done, Severus," she said. "Thank you for checking up on me, but I'm fine, and your friends won't like it if they hear you've been talking to me."

She turned her back on Severus and walked to the table in the far corner of the room, where the rest of her friends were already sitting with a round of Butterbeers. James scowled at Snape as they passed by him.

"Snivellus," Sirius said with a sneer, shoving his shoulder against him as he passed.

"Padfoot," Remus said in a warning tone.

James had his hands balled in tight fists. He was resisting the urge to turn and hex Snape. He knew Lily would hate him for it, and he really did _not_ want her to hate him anymore. He just couldn't stand to see Snape pining after her, especially since he was so into Voldemort's way of thinking, the whole 'wizards are better than humans' and Pureblood supremacy things. James threw himself into the chair next to Lily and gave everyone at the table a tense nod in greeting.

"Hello everyone," Remus said in that proper way he had. "How has your Hogsmeade visit been so far?"

"Wonderful!" Marlene said immediately. "I found the _perfect_ outfit for Slughorn's party!"

"Thank you James," Lily said quietly while Marlene told the other Marauders all about her dress robes, even though they clearly didn't care what they looked like. James gave Lily a questioning look. "For not getting involved back there. Or for hexing him like I know you wanted to when he was leaving," she explained.

James gave her his signature crooked grin. "Not worth the time," he replied, casting it off as no big deal.

Lily let him get away with it, giving him a smile and brushing her hand over his in a silent thank you.

"Wait, if you got all this stuff, where is it right now?" Peter asked, confused.

"Honestly, are you lot wizards or not?" Lily asked with a laugh. "I'm serious!"

"No you're not!" Sirius said in an affronted tone. The other Marauders groaned. "I am, and I don't appreciate a female trying to impersonate me and my good name!"

The girls all laughed.

"I can't believe you just said that," Remus said with a disappointed shake of his head. "We avoid the S-word at all costs. He enjoys his jokes too much."

"Ah," Lily said once she stopped laughing. "Well I meant what I said, I can't believe you lot are wizards and you're actually carrying your purchases around in those big bags." Lily held up a single bag. "All of our stuff is right in here."

"It's not possible," Sirius said. "All that stuff couldn't fit in there, particularly a set of dress robes!"

Lily rolled her eyes and put her arm up past her elbow into the bag. At the boys' still-confused faces, Lily explained, "Undetectable Extension Charm."

Remus hit his palm against his forehead. "I can't believe I didn't think about that."

"Wow," James said, leaning back in his chair. "I feel incredibly stupid. And very much not a wizard."

"Lilykins, you just made my life so much better," Sirius said happily, in direct contrast to his friends.

"Glad to be of service," Lily said gallantly, bowing her head to Sirius mockingly.

"Okay, that's it, we're definitely keeping her around forever," Sirius said once he finished moving all of his belongings into one bag.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "This was a decision you lot were making?"

"Well of course, Lovely," Emmeline said before any of the Marauders could speak. "Didn't you know that not just anyone is allowed to be in the presence of such awesomeness without going through a full review? If just one of the Marauders doesn't approve of the new groupie, it's no good. Sirius is usually the toughest nut to crack, too. So it looks like you passed."

The girls were all pressing their lips together tightly, trying desperately not to laugh at the Marauders' faces. James and Sirius had nearly identical expressions: jaws dropped open, eyes staring blankly, one eyebrow raised. Remus looked dumbfounded, like he couldn't quite believe that the ever-calm Emmeline Vance had just said something like that. And Peter look lost, like he wasn't quite sure if this was a real thing that he hadn't known about or if it was a joke; he kept looking between his three friends, making sure they were as lost as he was, before he finally relaxed a bit. He was the first to laugh though, and it made all the girls release their laughter.

"Well, I have never been so insulted in my entire life," Sirius said dramatically, standing in a huff. "I am going to get drinks." He started walking away, then tossed a wink over his shoulder at Emmeline. "And then I'll be back for more."

"So who's up for a party this Friday for Halloween?" James said excitedly, trying to forget that someone had actually made fun of the Marauders.

"Sweet!" Mary said, nudging Emmeline. "Looks like we _will_ have something to do with ourselves without Lily and Marlene around."

"Where are you two going to be then?" James said, disappointed.

"Didn't you hear, numbskull?" Marlene asked. "I just got the dress robes for it and everything."

"Yeah, Professor Slughorn's party," Lily said with a small smile. "It's always right on Halloween night, and I've promised I'll go.

"If Lovely Lily refused to go to his Halloween party, I think Slughorn would die of heartbreak," Mary said dramatically, throwing her head back and putting the back of her hand against her forehead in a pose.

"Oh, come off it," Lily said, blushing in embarrassment.

"You are his favorite student, you know," Emmeline said.

"Yes, and it's all because she's Lovely, thus the nickname," Marlene said dryly. "First you're a natural at Potions, and then you turn out to be a sweet, caring young lady? What more could the Professor ask for in a student for his collection?"

"Shut it, Marlene," Lily said into the top of her Butterbeer. "Just because I don't have the heart to disdain him for his 'collecting' shouldn't make me a bad person."

"On the contrary," Remus said. "It makes you a very good person."

"Thank you, Remus," Lily said gratefully, reaching out the squeeze his hand.

"I just don't get why you go to all his Slug Club gatherings," James said. "I mean, even if you do like the bloke, is his party really better than one of ours?"

"Is that seriously what you're concerned about, James?" Mary asked incredulously. "Whose _party_ is better?"

"Well it is a legitimate concern," Sirius said as he set four bottles of Butterbeer down. "I mean, if of Sluggy is throwing parties as awesome as ours, we definitely need to step up our game."

"Actually," Lily said, causing everyone to look at her, "the thing I like about Professor Slughorn's gatherings has nothing to do with the party aspect. He really does know a lot of influential people, and if I go to his parties, he introduces me to every single one of them. By the time I leave Hogwarts, I think I'll be one of the most well-connected students, except maybe one who has family in the Ministry."

James gave a nonchalant shrug. "If that's all it is, then I'm no longer worried."

"Yeah, you already know everyone you need to, huh James?" Peter said, proud to know someone who had so many powerful connections in the wizarding community.

James shrugged off Peter's comment, uncomfortable with others bringing up his family's connections. It wasn't anything of his doing, just the luck of being born into the Potter name. It wasn't that he wasn't proud of being a Potter, a descendent of the Peverell line, but he liked being acknowledged for his own accomplishments.

James quickly turned the conversation back to the upcoming parties. Everyone was in high spirits with the upcoming holiday. Even those in the group not invited to the infamous Slug Club gathering had the Marauders' party in Gryffindor Tower to look forward to. It was shaping up to be a great week, run-ins with Snape aside.

* * *

"Lily, would you pay attention? This is serious!"

Lily's chin was resting on the palm of her hand, gazing across the study hall blankly, lightly biting her bottom lip as she dazed off. It was just Marlene and Lily for the day. The brunettes had other classes while the blonde and redhead had the period free. Mary was in Arithmancy while Emmeline had Divination.

"What are you looking at Lily?" Marlene asked huffily, shutting her Potions book loudly. She turned her head in the direction Lily was looking, and a triumphant grin spread over her face. "Oh, if that's who's got you so distracted, don't let me interrupt."

"Huh?" Lily finally said, her eyes focusing on her friend's face.

"I was trying to get your help with this Potions assignment, but please feel free to go back to ogling Potter," Marlene said, a self-satisfied smirk playing over her lips.

"What? I was not!" Lily claimed. "Why on earth would I be staring at Potter?" Lily refused to sit with the Marauders when she was doing homework. They were far too distracting. Not that it was helping her at all to not sit with them this day.

Marlene cocked her head to the side and raised her eyebrows at Lily, her bright blues eyes sparkling with mirth. "Because you think he's cute. That messy black hair, those hazel eyes, those glasses that are constantly falling off his face. Tell me truthfully you've never wondered what it would feel like to run your hands through that hair." Marlene crossed her arms over her chest, confident that she was right.

Lily huffed, frowning and crossing her arms as well, but more as an act of self defense. "So what if I have?" Lily asked grudgingly. "A girl can find a bloke attractive and not want to be anything but friends with him, right?"

Marlene snorted in what was very nearly derision. "Sure, keep telling yourself that Lils."

"Promise you won't repeat what I just told you!" Lily said suddenly, realizing she hadn't actually asked Marlene not to repeat her confession.

Marlene sighed in disappointment. "Man, I almost got away without you swearing me to secrecy this time. One of these days you won't remember, and then I can tell James what you really think."

Lily rolled her eyes, laughing, at her friend.

"And what does the lovely Miss Evans really think about James?" Remus asked as he sat next to Lily.

Lily's eyes flew wide open, her smile falling off her face. She grinned sheepishly at Remus as she said, "That he's a better bloke than I thought before?"

Remus just raised his eyebrows at Lily, trying not to laugh at her. He wasn't going to push her. What would happen, would happen, and Remus was content to just watch it unfold.

"I was just wondering if you could help me through this part of the Potions essay we have to write," Remus said. "I am not entirely grasping this concept, I think."

"That's the part I needed help with!" Marlene said. Lily gave Marlene a disbelieving look. "Okay, okay, I really needed help with the whole thing. You're a godsend, Lils. I wouldn't make it through Potions without you."

"Alright, you two, let's get this done with," Lily said as she pulled a book over to her and explained the antidote-creating process for blended poisons using Golpalott's Third Law.

"So basically, when we are all Aurors," Sirius said from behind Lily and Remus suddenly, "we should have Lily in our squad to deal with anything Potions-related."

Lily jumped in her seat, her hand going to her chest. "Give a girl some warning next time you sneak up behind her, Sirius," Lily complained.

"I agree with Padfoot, though," James said, groaning as he looked over Lily and Remus' shoulders at the diagrams Lily had drawn in her attempts to help Remus and Marlene. "Doubt I'll ever get Potions as well as you."

"Or Charms," Sirius added. "You've really got a way with Charms, Lilykins."

Lily blushed and ducked her head as she muttered, "Thanks guys. And did I hear you correctly? You both want to be Aurors?"

"All three of us do," James said, clapping a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Pete did too-" James gestured over his shoulder to his round-faced friend. "-but he didn't get a good enough grade on his Potions OWL."

"Best way to fight a Dark Lord is to join the Dark Wizard catchers, right?" Sirius said, falling into the seat beside Marlene. Lily shrugged, not so sure.

"What, you doubt the skills of the Aurors?" James asked, genuinely curious, as he sat on Lily's other side, and Peter took the spot next to Sirius.

Lily sighed and folded her hands on the table in front of her, not meeting anyone's gaze. "If they are so good at catching Dark Wizards, why are so many Death Eaters running rampant around the country? Why does no one have any idea where exactly Voldemort is, or how to stop him?" Lily looked up and shared a look with each of the people sitting with her. "Voldemort has connections everywhere, and he and his followers aren't afraid to use the Unforgivable Curses, so he can control anyone he wants." Lily shook her head. "I'm not convinced the Auror Department is enough to stop him."

"It's better than doing nothing, though," James protested. "Even if there is _some_ corruption, it's not everyone. It's _better than doing nothing_." He repeated the last sentence in defiance, trying to convince Lily.

"But I've heard rumors," Lily said quietly, leaning in close to the others so as to avoid being heard.

Marlene shared a glance with Remus across from her, and then with Sirius sitting next to her. "I know what you're talking about, Lils," she said, tucking a strand of her blonde hair back behind her ear. "But no one knows anything about them. They're like ghosts, showing up to help, and disappearing as soon as the fighting's over."

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Lily said. "No one wants to put their families at even more risk. Voldemort's only getting more powerful. Anyone outwardly opposing him earns swift punishment in the form of dead, or at the very least tortured, loved ones."

"Are you talking about who I think you are?" Remus asked, his pale green eyes flicking between the two girls.

"What is it?" Sirius demanded impatiently, placing his hands palms-down on the table, his grey eyes hard with determination.

"They are called the Order of the Phoenix," Lily nearly whispered. "That's basically all anyone knows about them."

James' hazel eyes widened. "I remember my parents mentioning them once," he said. "I think they might know a few of the members, but they never say. Like you said, Lily, everyone's cautious. You really want to join the Order and be on the front lines?"

Lily nodded, and leaned back, signalling she was done discussing it. She didn't want to hear anyone's nonsense about it being too dangerous. Her life was in danger just for being a Muggleborn witch. If her life was in danger, she might as well spend it making the world a safer place for future Muggleborns. They spent the rest of the free period in silence, each contemplating their own thoughts on the future. Lily packed up hurriedly when the period was up, trying to make a quick escape from everyone.

"Lily, wait up!"

Lily sighed as she turned her bag swinging and hitting her in the leg. She grabbed onto it's strap to stop it moving, tucking her hair behind her ear with her free hand.

"What do you want, James?"

"Just wondering if you'll make time for both parties tomorrow night," James said, his hand going to the back of his head and that crooked grin on his face.

"You know you're hair doesn't need any help getting messier, right?" Lily commented dryly. James immediately dropped his hand to his side. "I'm going to try to make it back for the end of the party in Gryffindor. Someone has to send the younger students to bed, don't they?" Lily said with a grin and a wink. "I'll see you later, James. I've got Ancient Runes to get to."

"Wait for me, then," Remus said, half-jogging to Lily's side. "Later mates!" Lily and Remus waved over their shoulders as they disappeared around the corner.

James sighed in contentment. Lily finally hadn't said _no_ to him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter! I love hearing what you are thinking. Also, I apologize profusely for being MIA for five weeks now. I have no reason other than that my muse abandoned me, so rather than force it and give you all a half-rate chapter, I waited until I found it again (which happened to be when I visited California for a week; apparently even muses need vacation.) To make up for the extremely long wait, I tried to make it a nice, long chapter! That's all I've got to say, so enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I am not J. K. Rowling and so do not own Harry Potter (or his parents).

**Chapter 8**

For the past hour and a half since dinner was finished, Lily had been standing near Slughorn, allowing him to parade her to all of his 'friends'. She was getting tired-and a bit annoyed, if she was being honest with herself-with the whole process. It had been a long day, and an even longer week. All the professors were apparently determined to prove that just because OWLs were done did not mean that Sixth Year was to be a breeze. Lily had barely had any time free all week, between classes, the homework load, practicing Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense spells on her own time, and her various Prefect duties. She was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

And clearly Slughorn had noticed.

"Are we boring you, m'dear?" he said after she yawned for the what had to be the twentieth time in as many minutes.

Lily quickly shook her head. The last thing she wanted was the current contact she was meeting to think her uninterested. The only problem was, she couldn't for the life of her remember this bloke's name. She knew he was a worker in the Department of Mysteries, an

Unspeakable, as they were known to other Witches and Wizards.

"No, I'm sorry, Professor," she said quickly, reaching out and touching his forearm with a placating hand. "I've just had a lot on my plate recently, with classes, homework, and Prefect duties, as well as tutoring some of the younger students-"

"Say no more, say no more, Lovely Lily," Professor Slughorn said amiably. "Broderick, I think it is time for us to bid Miss Evans a good night. Everyone must get their rest eventually, no?" He finished with a chuckle and steered the Unspeakable into a crowd of other Slug Club members.

Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead with her hand. _Now if only I could find Marlene and get out of here before Severus finds me,_ Lily thought as she scanned the crowd. Snape had kept his distance for the most part as long as Lily was with Slughorn. She was fairly certain it was more because Rosier was at the party than out of respect for Lily's wish to not speak to him.

"I was wondering when Slughorn would lose his grip on you," Marlene said from behind Lily.

Lily spun rapidly, caught off guard by the blonde. "Where've you been? You should have rescued me ages ago!"

"What, and let our dear Professor bother the rest of us? No, thank you," Marlene responded huffily. "Besides, I was busy." She said the last bit with a sly grin on her face and a mischievous twinkle in her baby blue eyes.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "Okay, you can tell me about this thing that kept you busy while we head back to Gryffindor. My feet are _killing_ me!"

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that look. Those shoes look fabulous with those dress robes."

Lily muttered in complaint as they forced their way through the crowd to the exit. Marlene had essentially forced her to wear three inch heels that no one would see because they "went with her outfit". Lily hadn't had the will to fight Marlene on it at the time, so she had worn the shoes-and the pretty, flowy black skirt and deep blue top under the dress robes that she could wear to the Marauders' party in Gryffindor Tower.

"Okay, spill it," Lily demanded as they were walking up the first staircase.

Marlene got that grin on her face again, the overly-content-with-herself one that made Lily so curious. "Turns out Cresswell is pretty good at more than just languages, Lils."

"Oh Merlin, Marlene, is that really what you were doing the whole time I was with Slughorn and his collection?" Lily asked, exasperated.

"What can I say? He's a good snog!" Marlene said, lifting a shoulder and giving Lily a satisfied smirk.

"You going to go with him for a while then?" Lily asked. "Or was it a one-time deal?"

"I think I'll stick with him," she answered nonchalantly. "If he's interested."

Lily rolled her eyes, but let Marlene prattle on about Dirk Cresswell during their walk. Marlene wasn't really looking for a serious relationship at any given time. She would snog someone she was interested in, and if she liked it well enough, would keep snogging him until she decided she didn't want and/or need him anymore. That was just how Marlene was, and Lily was fine with it, but Lily was only interested in snogging someone she would want to call "boyfriend", and that was the end of the story for her.

"How much do you want to bet as soon as the Portrait Hole opens we won't be able to hear each other speaking?" Lily said casually as they turned the corner to Gryffindor Tower.

Marlene scoffed and said, "How numb do you think I am? I'd lose that bet in a heartbeat."

"Well it is midnight," Lily protested. "Maybe they all got tired?"

"Free butterbeer, Lils. And sweets. And whatever else those boys felt like coming up with."

"True," Lily sighed. "Alright, let's get this over with."

They gave the Fat Lady the password, and as soon as she swung open, a wave of noise washed over them, bathing them in the joy of the party. Both girls laughed as they climbed through the Hole. The Common Room was completely decked out in oranges, yellows, reds, and black in celebration of Halloween. They shared a look and took off for the Girls' Dormitory stairs, pulling off their dress robes on the way and tossing them up as far as they could. They would grab them on their way upstairs.

"C'mon, let's find Mary and Emmeline!" Marlene shouted, though Lily more read her lips than heard her. She nodded in agreement, a huge smile across her face. Lily mouthed 'dance floor' to Marlene, knowing Mary and Emmeline would be there more likely than anywhere else. After two months of school, and only one weekend for a Hogsmeade visit, a party was the perfect excuse to let loose, dance, and forget about responsibilities for the night.

"Lilykins! McKinnon! You finally made it!"

Sirius spun Lily into an impromptu dance, flailing limbs and all. Lily laughed and spun and got so caught up in the moment that she tripped over her own feet. She was falling, and thinking how her night couldn't have ended on a worse note, when a pair of strong arms caught her around the waist and jerked her to her feet-and right up against the hard, muscle-toned body of none other than James Potter. Lily's breathe caught in her throat. Her hands were gripping James' shoulders tightly, so tightly she was surprised he wasn't complaining from pain.

"Nice of you to drop in, Evans," James said smoothly, his mouth close to her ear so he didn't have to yell, pulling Lily into a smooth dance to flow with the slow pulse of the music.

He was wearing a red button-down shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, that Lily couldn't help thinking clashed horribly with her hair, and his ever-present black slacks. Other than Hogsmeade weekend, Lily couldn't remember the last time she had seen James wear anything besides his Hogwarts robes or black slacks.

"Told you I'd try to make it, didn't I?" Lily responded once she caught her breath after her nearly extremely embarrassing moment. "And thanks for catching me, James." Lily flashed him her million-watt smile, the one she used to painstakingly hide from him.

"I'll catch you any time you ask me to, Evans," James said, giving her his customary crooked grin. "Just say the word, and I'm there."

"Yeah? How about catching me a drink then?"

"We saved some for you upstairs!"

"We?" Lily asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"I wasn't going to pass by this opportunity to get Lily Evans drunk, now was I?" Sirius said from behind Lily.

Lily stopped dancing in favor of staring down Sirius, her hands in fists at her hips.

"Now Mr. Black, are you suggesting that I am a light weight? Because I'll have you know a couple Butterbeers are not enough to get me tipsy!"

"Who said it was Butterbeer up there?" he replied with a wink. "Saved the best stuff for our favorite Gryffindors."

"Oh, so you saved it for yourselves then?" Marlene teased.

Sirius glared at the blonde. "And just for that, you are not allowed any of it!"

Marlene pouted at the grey-eyed boy until his hazel-eyed counterpart said, "It's alright, Marlene, I have my own stock you can have some of."

"You're the best, James!"

"I know," he said with a smug, crooked grin on his face.

"Marlene, you're ruining all my hard work of deflating his head over the years!" Lily complained, smirking at James to let him know she was sort of kidding.

"Admit it, Evans, you were just pretending to hate us," Sirius yelled over the noise in the Common Room.

"You wish, Black!" Lily said saucily as she continued shoving her way to the middle of the dance floor. She could make out Emmeline's tall frame and her light brown hair was curled as it usually was when she went to a party. "Emmy!"

Emmeline couldn't hear Lily over the noise of the crowd and the blaring music. She was dancing wildly, Lily presumed with Mary since she didn't see a guy anywhere near her friend. Lily kept shoving her way through the throng of Gryffindors, ranging between 2nd and 7th Year students, followed closely by Marlene, James, and Sirius.

"You finally made it!" Mary yelled right in Lily's ear, startling her quite a bit, which was surprising given the amount of noise already going on.

"And it's still going strong!" Marlene cheered, bouncing around to the music.

"You lot stay right here while I get the rest of my stash!" Sirius shouted to the group.

Lily rolled her eyes. "It's like he always forgets he's a wizard, with a magic wand, and a spell for almost anything you want to get done!"

Sirius was already halfway through the crowd though, so he didn't hear Lily's _Accio_, and since it was so loud he also couldn't hear the bottles zooming down the staircase. He did notice when one of them hit him in the forehead, however, nearly knocking him down the bottom three stairs he had made it up.

He spun around, seeing where the bottles ended up, and hung his head in what Lily knew was his representation of shame. "Lilykins, you're a genius!" he said when he pushed his way back through the crowd.

"Or you are just a really bad wizard, mate," Remus commented as he pushed his way into the group behind Sirius. "How was Slughorn's, girls?"

Lily shrugged and sent a sly look Marlene's way. "My night was significantly more dull than Marlene's was, at the very least. Too bad Cresswell isn't a Gryffindor, huh Marlene?"

"You're going with Dirk now?" Peter asked curiously as he squeezed into the conversation. "Isn't he a year below us? And a know-it-all Ravenclaw?"

"He sure knows it all when it comes to kissing, at least," Marlene said with some sass, causing Emmeline and Mary to laugh uproariously.

Sirius had been portioning out the Firewhisky and was passing around the cups.

"A toast, then," James said, lifting his cup in front of his face. The others followed suit, except Lily, who was sniffing hers cautiously.

"Lils, what are you doing?" Mary asked.

"I've never had it before. It's called Firewhisky. Is it actually going to burn my throat?"

Sirius snorted in his attempt not to laugh. "Lilykins, just drink to the toast and try it."

Lily frowned at him. "I don't like trying food items without some mental preparation."

"You don't like trying anything without some mental preparation," Marlene muttered so that her statement was swallowed up by the party noise. Then she said at a normal volume, "James, continue!"

"To a very Happy Halloween, and a brilliant start to our 6th Year!"

"Hear, hear!" Sirius said before his cup went bottoms-up and his Firewhiskey disappeared down his throat.

Lily took a more careful route, taking a tiny first sip in acknowledgement of the toast, letting the flavor of the drink roll around in her mouth. Unfortunately, that is _not_ the way Firewhiskey was meant to be drank.

Lily's face turned deep red.

She hurriedly swallowed the sip before coughing and sticking her tongue out with her mouth wide open, trying to cool the burning-hot sensation now consuming her tongue, gums, and the inside of her cheeks. She shoved her cup into someone's hand, not even noticing the others laughing hysterically at her.

"That's bloody awful!"

"Language, Miss Evans!" Emmeline said through her gasps for air.

"You're not supposed to savor it, Lily," James said, still struggling to not laugh too hard at her. "It burns worse the longer it's in contact with anything. That's why your stomach gets all warm and tingly once it gets there."

"No one could've told me that before the damn toast?" she asked incredulously.

"And miss out on the hilarity? Why would we do such a thing?" Remus commented.

"Remus! You're supposed to be the nice one!" Lily said.

He shrugged. "When it suits me."

"In other words: when he hasn't been drinking for the past three hours," Peter translated.

"That would explain it," Emmeline said.

"It's always the quiet ones we have to look out for," Mary added.

"Speaking of quiet, is it just me or did this party shrink in size?" Marlene asked.

Lily glanced around the room. It as true. The music's volume was down a little, and all of the younger students were gone, leaving mostly 5th through 7th Years in the Common Room. Those who were left had toned down the party, separating into groups of friends to chat or goof off until they all went to sleep.

"Apparently we were not destined to enjoy much of this one, Marlene," Lily said calmly.

"I'm surprised you enjoyed any of it," her friend retorted. "Usually I have to beg you to come, and then you would only sit in a corner and sulk the whole time."

"I like the change," Remus said. "It makes me feel less like a slacker in my Prefect-ly duties."

Lily chuckled and winked slowly at her slim, sandy-haired fellow Prefect. "It's my intention to keep enjoying all these crazy times in Gryffindor Tower, so don't worry about being the slacker again Remus."

"Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?" Mary said mock-seriously.

"She's locked in my closet at home so I have plenty of hair supply for the Polyjuice Potion I need to take every hour," she replied with a completely straight face, and proceeded to walk off, leaving the boys stunned.

"I think I like the new Lily," Peter commented. James and Remus nodded silently, James with a dumbfounded look on his face and Remus with a content smile. Sirius sighed happily and clasped his hands behind his head. He was the first to follow after Lily to a couch by the fire, shortly followed by Peter, his quick little steps a direct contrast to Sirius' slow, smooth saunter.

"You guys are good for her," Marlene said softly to James and Remus before she wound her way across the room to join the others by the fire.

* * *

"It's not even NEWTs this year!" Sirius complained loudly, as he had been doing for the last hour.

It had been five weeks since Halloween and winter was in full force on the Hogwarts grounds. The teachers seemed to take this as an excuse to give more and more homework in the weeks leading up to break. All the 6th Years were getting more and more frustrated and anxious, particularly Sirius, James, and Peter. Granted, Peter was always anxious when it came to school; it was in his nature.

However, James and Sirius were usually done with assignments in no time; they were naturally brilliant at Transfiguration and Defense, and simply did not care about getting perfect scores. They typically did enough work and put enough effort into it that they passed their classes - some with flying colors - and still had plenty of time to goof off, pull pranks, and do other such Marauder-esque activities. What they were _not_ used to was assignments being so complex and in-depth and _long_ that they actually had to _try_ in most of their classes. And James and Sirius were _not_ happy about it.

"Padfoot, honestly," Remus said through a sigh. "If you would just focus and get it done, we could move on to planning a prank, or building a snowman, or whatever else it is that your heart desires at the time."

"Moony, this is painful. I think my hand has cramped," James said, dropping his quill with disgust and shaking out his hand.

"Is this the right order for ingredients, Remus?" Peter asked, shoving his parchment in his friend's face.

"Prongs, you'll live. And let me see that, Wormtail," Remus said with a snap in his tone. He was thoroughly annoyed with his friends. If they would leave him be, he could potentially be done already. That was why he preferred studying and working with Lily. She was quiet and diligent about her own work, leaving him to his own devices. "I've turned everything wrong red, including grammar for you, Pete."

"You're a life saver, Remus," Peter said reverently.

Remus just grumbled and buried himself back behind his Charms textbook.

"Hey, Lily!" Sirius called suddenly, completely uncaring that he was in the middle of the library. "Over here!"

"Run while you can!" Remus emerged from behind his book to warn her. "You'll never get your work done if you don't!"

The redhead continued to wind her way around the tables and right towards them, though. Remus was silently thanking whoever was watching over him. With Lily there, James and Sirius at least would leave him alone, and Peter could split his questions between the two of them.

However Lily did not take a seat, like they were all assuming she would.

"Hi everyone," she said cheerily, as if she hadn't a care in the world.

"Lily, save us!" Sirius said desperately. "It's all going to suffocate me! I'm going to get lines on my perfect face!" Lily's eyebrows tilted up at the last statement.

"Your face will be fine Sirius, homework cannot actually suffocate you, and I am not here to rescue you or James in the first place," she said before turning her focus back to Remus. "You never came out to meet me for patrol so I figured I should come find you," Lily explained to Remus' confused expression.

"Noooo!" James said in an overly dramatic, long-held word.

Lily rolled her eyes. "This is why I do my work in my dorm now."

Remus haphazardly shoved all his things in his bag, threw it over his shoulder, and practically ran with Lily out of the door. "Lily, I am _so_ sorry! I forgot we had patrol…" Remus halted suddenly. "Wait, we don't have a patrol right now. That was yesterday. I remember because Sirius was mad I wouldn't go with him to the kitchens."

Lily grinned mischievously and continued walking down the corridor. "They don't have to know that, do they?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Lily, you honestly are the best."

"How about we go find a quiet classroom to practice those Charms and Defense spells?"

* * *

There was one last Hogsmeade trip planned before half the population of Hogwarts would be gone for two weeks of freedom. It was set for the Saturday of the first weekend of December, and needless to say, everyone was excited for it. Lily loved buying her parents' christmas gifts in Hogsmeade. They were always so thrilled by the simplest bits of magical items she bought them. And Petunia didn't need to know that her newest item for her wardrobe was bought in a wizard store; what she didn't know couldn't come back to bite Lily in the future. Lily had even managed to find something for all her guy- and girl-friends. She was satisfied they would all appreciate the presents, whether or not they were the best or most perfect thing they got that year.

Lily had decided to wander on her own to get her shopping done. She hated the pressure or shopping for Christmas with others around her. She always felt like she had to justify what she was buying to them, even though it was none of their business. So there she was, freezing her bum off, walking down one of Hogsmeade's side streets, when she hears an intense, whispered conversation going on right around the corner. She always hated interrupting people when they were talking that fiercely; they tended to give the evil eye. So instead of turning the corner, she waited where she was, trying not to overhear what was being said. And failing miserably at it.

"-can't do that! He's expecting all of us to be there, the Saturday between Christmas and New Years. You can't not show up!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Whoever said I was to be absent is full of it." Lily froze. She would know that whisper anywhere. It used to be her he would whisper to, after all. "Honestly, find better sources. Or better yet, stop stalking me altogether. I have proven my loyalty."

"Well then why don't you ever want to play with us?"

"Because I am not that crude."

Lily was so confused. What was Snape rumored to not be attending? What didn't he want to play that was crude? And then it hit her. What other 'game' could one of Snape's new friends want to play other than tormenting Muggles and Muggleborns? It made Lily almost physically sick to think about.

"Besides, I have better ways in which to serve the Dark Lord…"

Lily couldn't stay and listen any longer. She threw a hand over her mouth and tore off down the street in the opposite direction she had originally been heading. She rounded the nearest corner and kept running until she was back on the main street, about a hundred yards down from where she could see Severus and Rosier having a heated discussion. Lily dashed into the Three Broomsticks, hoping beyond anything that _someone_ was in there that she could run to.

She spotted the messy black hair, and then the long elegant black hair, as well as the sandy and blonde hair-boys across from them. She shoved her way as quickly as she could through the crowd and wormed her way between Sirius and James. All four boys startled at the sudden appearance.

Remus recovered the fastest. "What's wrong, Lily? You're really pale. And I think shaking."

"What did you do, stay out too long and freeze yourself?" Sirius teased, but still reached an arm around her back and rubbed his hand up and down her arm to help warm her up. And then he realized she was actually quite warm. "Uhhh, Lils…."

"I knew it was happening," Lily began, using a voice barely above a whisper. "I mean, I know it _is_ happening. I know Voldemort is recruiting, and I know a lot of people are joining his cause, whether by choice or because he is forcing their hand. But I _never_ wanted to hear my best friend talking about how he could best _serve_ his _lord_." Lily was still so disgusted and horrified with the conversation she had overheard that she didn't catch her own mistake of still terming Severus her best friend.

"He was talking about _what_?" James said more than asked in a carefully neutral tone.

"The slimy git," Sirius spat, then said to Lily, "Sorry," with a sheepish look on his face.

Lily surprised them all when she said, "By all means." And she waved her hand in front of her, as though making way for an important person. "If that is truly the path he is following and believes in now, maybe he is a git. I just wish he stayed the same as he was when we were kids and he brought the magic into my life…" Lily trailed off.

The enormity of her emotional upheaval had passed, and she just wanted to sit for a while. She didn't notice that while James was running a hand soothingly up and down her back, his other was fisted rigidly on his thigh with his knuckles turning white. He was so _angry_. Angry that Snape could be friends with Lily all those years and not see that Voldemort is wrong. Angry that Lily had overheard him talking about his future Death Eater status. And angry that she still got so torn up about her ex-best friend's activities.

He knew it was wrong to be mad that she cared. It was such a _Lily_ thing to do: care about someone, anyone, even if they didn't deserve, want, or need the caring. She was just that type of person. It was one of the most important things he loved about her. James was determined to put a smile back on her face, so he turned the conversation rather tactlessly to the impending Christmas.

"Christmas is by far the best Holiday ever!" Sirius was saying ten minutes later. "No school for two weeks, tons of presents, awesome breakfast AND dinner, and did I mention _no school_?!"

"And I'm just saying that New Year's has it's upsides as well!" Lily argued back. "Is no one allowed to have a different opinion on the best holiday around him?" she asked the other three.

"No, not really," Remus said immediately, taking a swig of his Butterbeer.

"We came to the conclusion it's easier to let him have Christmas be the best," Peter added.

"At least out loud," James finished.

"So you all think of different holidays as the best?" Lily clarified.

James shared a look with Sirius. "I don't. Christmas is the best invention. _Ever_."

"I'm rather partial to Halloween," Remus whispered conspiratorially.

Peter stayed quiet on the matter. Lily was fairly certain he was afraid of disappointing all of them by saying something different from any of them, so he didn't even want to take a side. Lily felt bad for him; it must be hard to be so unsure of yourself that you couldn't ever speak your own mind.

"Well this is a rather pointless argument anyways," Lily said.

"No, a pointless argument would be whose socks are better," Sirius said.

"Or which blade of grass is the best," James added.

Lily dropped her head to the table and very quickly lifted it up again. "And on that note, I am going back to the castle." She stood and grabbed her bag of purchases. "I'll see you boys later. When you're making more sense again."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry for the abrupt ending, but it's 2am here and I have to work in the morning, so there it is. Please leave me a review, let me know how I'm doing. Any thoughts or concerns?


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